March 11: Harrods

On this date in 1985 The Al-Fayed brothers bought Harrods. Here are ten things you might not know about London's most exclusive department store:

1. The original Harrods was a small grocery shop in Stepney, East London, opened by Charles Henry Harrod in 1834. The staff comprised two assistants and a messenger boy and only sold groceries. The store moved to Knightsbridge and expanded in 1849.
2. Now, it sells just about everything. The store's motto is “Omnia Omnibus Ubique”, which, translated from Latin, means “All things for all people, everywhere.” This has included pet alligators - Noel Coward bought one there one year for Christmas. One A.A. Milne bought the teddy bear there which would become famous as Winnie the Pooh.
3. The current building was built between 1901 and 1905 and was commissioned by Richard Burbidge.
4. Mohamed Al-Fayed doesn't own the shop anymore. He sold it to Qatar Holdings for £1.5 billion in 2010.
5. Harrods covers over five acres of land and has more than 1,000,000 square feet of floor space.
6. Since Christmas 1959 Harrods has been lit up at night with 12,000 light bulbs on the store’s façade of which 300 need to be changed every day.
7. A hundred years ago in 1917, the managing director of Harrods made a bet with rival store owner Harry Gordon Selfridge over which store would make the biggest profit that year. Harrods won, and to honour the bet, Selfridge had a silver replica of the store commissioned. This is on display on lower ground floor to this day.
8. Also back in 1917 Harrods had its own zoo.
9. A cobra was used at one time to guard a pair of sandals worth £62,000 due to the diamonds and sapphires embedded in them.
10. Approximately 100,000 people come to shop at Harrods on an average day. At peak times it can be as many as 300,000.

NEW!!

Sweet Karma

My latest short story collection: murder and mayhem along with moving statues, Ancient Egyptian magic pebbles, a World War II evacuee's diary and a bathtub full of marshmallows.

Paperback Createspace or Amazon

E-Book Amazon Kindle

See details of all my books

Now you can browse other topics I've covered in this blog - HERE.