The best of Chelsea by the people who know - Cadogan

68 | SHOPPING | Spotlight on shops
Shop and awe
Peter Jones
Spotlight
on shops
As well as being home to some of the
world’s most famous stores (Harrods
and Harvey Nicks being just two), the
area also boasts small but brilliant
boutiques. We’ve picked out just a few
in our Spotlight on Shops – for more,
see the Shopping directory, page 73
Department stores
Harrods
A five-minute walk from its rival Harvey
Nichols, Harrods is a famously upmarket
department store. It is enormous,
covering 4.5 acres, with seven floors.
Its history is as rich as its décor.
Charles Henry Harrod opened a wholesale
grocers with a special interest in tea
in 1834 in the East End of London, and
moved to a single room in Knightsbridge
in 1849 to capitalise on the Great
Exhibition in Hyde Park in 1851. The
business expanded under the leadership
of Harrod’s son, Charles Digby Harrod,
and it took over adjacent buildings,
becoming a thriving department store.
Disaster struck in December 1883
when the entire store burned to the
ground but, incredibly, Charles still fulfilled
all of his customers’ Christmas
deliveries, making record profits. The
store was rebuilt with the help of architect
Charles William Stephens, who gave
it a grand style.
By the 1890s, Harrods had become a
public company and, in 1898, it installed
one of the world’s first escalators – with
a brandy for nervous customers at the
top.
In the Second World War, Harrods
turned its focus from luxury goods to
producing uniforms, parachutes and
parts for Lancaster bombers.
The House of Fraser Group bought
Harrods in 1959 and the young fashion
boutique Way In opened there in 1967.
The store returned to private ownership
in 1985 when it was bought by
Mohamed Al Fayed and his brother Ali.
They implemented a £300 million refurbishment
plan. In 2010, Qatar Holding
Harrods
bought Harrods for £1.5 billion.
The store has suffered two IRA attacks
in its history – one in 1983, when a car
bomb exploded in an adjacent street,
and one in 1993, when a bomb was put
in a bin outside.
In addition to its reputation for luxury
goods, Harrods is known for its lavish
style and famous food halls, which are a
joy to wander around. It also has a huge
range of restaurants and cafés and even
has a tasting room for wine sampling
and dining.
The store has a dress code which
asks that all clothing is clean and presentable,
not too revealing and that
appropriate footwear is worn. Small bags
and rucksacks are allowed, but large