London Shopping London Department Stores Selfridges & Co.Selfridges & Co.
Selfridges & Co. is a London institution. The store opened in 1909 and helped to establish Oxford Street as the main shopping district in London. Bleriot's cross-channel 
monoplane was displayed here, and the first public demonstration of television by John Logie Baird in 1925 occurred on the first floor. These marketing campaigns were highly successful in establishing the store as a groundbreaking market leader.
Though Selfridges & Co. has changed hands many times over its history, no-one has attempted to radically change the formula. The store is noted for stocking a huge range of high quality household goods, but it's especially popular with fashion shoppers of both sexes. The food hall stocks some of the best delicatessen goods in town.
Responsible for numerous marketing campaigns and ploys that have become standard practice, Selfridges & Co. was the first department store to open a perfume department built around the main entrance. At the time London was besieged by Omnibuses and other horse drawn traffic, (there's some early film of London's street traffic) so the air was heavy with the ripe aroma of manure. Shoppers flooded into the fragrant entrance and as Gordon Selfridge had hoped, made their way further into the store.
In the 1960s Selfridges launched the young fashion brand 'Miss Selfridge', with its own entrance on Duke Street, coffee bar and for the first time music. So the hip, swinging cats of London would feel at home within the Grand Dame of British retail.
During the dark days of the 1970s Selfridges was bombed by the IRA, but quickly opened again the following day. "Business as Usual" was a phrase coined by Gordon Selfridge during the First World War, which has since entered the lexicon of retail, political and social life in the UK. A few wobbles were felt in the 1980s when all established retail brands evolved or died. Selfridges expanded into several other cities including Manchester and a highly controversial store in Brimingham (architecturally - it was coated in huge aluminium discs) over the last decade and has since experienced steady growth.
An essential stop for a shop. When I was there recently - a demo for a remote control helicopter was in full swing. It was controlled by an iPhone with an Augmented Reality gaming environment backdrop - technology I was aware of - but the first time I'd seen it on sale in the UK. Selfridges & Co. tends to get there first, as far as new products are concerned.Selfridges & Co. 400 Oxford Street, W1A 1AB.
Bond Street or Marble Arch Tube.
Call: 0800 123 400
