Our Heritage

• Fitting luxurious ladies cloakrooms – the first in any Chicago department store
• Introducing displays on tables and counters at customer-friendly waist level.

1893-1905

For a decade, Selfridge worked with Daniel Burnham on developments that turned Marshall Field into the largest store in the world. Craving more recognition for initiatives that had helped Field’s become a retailing phenomenon, in 1903, Harry Selfridge left to establish his own retail empire.

After a few unfulfilled months running his own store – H.G. Selfridge & Co – Harry abruptly sold out to Carson, Pirie & Scott. At the age of 49, he retired a wealthy man. Believing life was an adventure still to be lived, he headed for Europe where he had set his sights on opening his own dream store in the largest, richest city in the world – London.

25 July 1909

In the new era of flight, by successfully completing the journey from Calais to Dover, Louis Bleriot became the first aviator to fly over water. His fragile plane was put on show in Selfridges for four days, drawing crowds of over 150,000. Never in the history of shopping had visiting a department store been so exciting.

1911-1913

Aimed at what the store described as thrifty housewives, the Bargain Basement opened in 1911. Merchandise on show was just as carefully displayed as on the upper floors – Selfridges having the knack of mixing the exclusive with the everyday.

Variety was always the name of the store's game. In 1911 came the biggest bookshop in the world and in 1912, a pet department where pride of place went to the Chief's favoured pugs.

In 1913 it was dance time as the tango hit town and world-famous dancers Florence Walton and Maurice Mouvet – who made the daring dance all the rage – performed for 2,000 revellers at a charity ball on the store's roof terrace.

As the high-octane jazz-age Twenties unfurled, Selfridges – completely in tune with the spirit of the era – sold everything from newly-fashionable red lipstick to imported Pogo Sticks. In 1922 alone, over 15 million people shopped in the store.

1925-1926

During events to celebrate the store's 16th birthday in 1925, Scottish inventor John Logie Baird demonstrated history in the making by showing his televisor.

Selfridges would later lead the way in selling televisions, but at a time when music really mattered, radio ruled and the store's new department could barely keep up with the demand.

The media were slow on the uptake to support the concept of television. When Logie Baird took his machine to the Daily Express, the editor said: “For God's sake, go down to Reception and get rid of a lunatic who's down there. He says he's got a machine for seeing by wireless! Watch him – he may have a razor on him!”

to C.J. Harvey's in Leeds – meant that by 1929 Selfridges was the largest retail group in Europe.

Meanwhile, Architectural Design Magazine called the newly completed Oxford Street flagship "the most imperial building in London."

1936-1939

By 1936, the store's bankers and investors – alarmed at the debts run up by their flamboyant Chairman – obliged him to invite Mr Andrew Holmes onto the board of directors.

Now living at Brook House, Park Lane, Selfridge's personal fortune had all but vanished – much of it on reckless gambling and expensive women.

The country awaited the Coronation of King Edward VIII – but in vain. At the end of 1937, when news broke of his abdication to marry American divorcee, Wallis Simpson – a favoured store customer – it caused pandemonium.

Selfridge clung onto power. But in October 1939, he too was exiled. At the age of 83, thirty years after revolutionising London's retailing, deeply in debt to the store – and owing thousands in taxes – Gordon Selfridge was forced to retire with the nominal title of 'President'. In 1941, that too was removed. He left his Park Lane apartment, and the man known as the showman of shopping spent his last years living in Ross Court, Putney, cared for by his devoted daughter.

on the activities of the top-secret U.S. Army Signal Corps Telecommunications system code-named SIGSALY, installed deep in Selfridges sub-basement.

1947

As people throughout Britain struggled to cope in the coldest winter since records began, shopping for anything other than basic necessities was virtually impossible. The country was deep in power cuts – and even deeper in snow. Newspapers were confined to just four pages, and holidays abroad were banned.

In May that year, Harry Gordon Selfridge died peacefully in his sleep at the age of 91.

Early ventures into pre-war television technology and innovations in household appliances had enabled Selfridges to form strong relationships with key suppliers – useful in the increasingly competitive retail arena. In 1953, when it was announced that Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation would be televised, sales of sets surged.

Selfridges continued their theme of using exterior décor to commemorate great Royal occasions. A model of the young Queen on her horse was the focal point of an extravaganza which included selling a huge selection of Coronation souvenirs to tempt the millions of visitors who thronged Oxford Street, eager to celebrate the dawning of what the press called 'The New Elizabethan Age'.

coffee bar, specially mixed music and an exclusive Pierre Cardin department, Miss Selfridge was a bold gesture by a big department store to challenge the rise of small, fashion boutiques.

In 1969, the store's 60th birthday – its Diamond Jubilee – was celebrated with a lot of the old flair. Exhibitions of jewels drew crowds, while major cosmetics brands like Orlane and Charles of the Ritz created exclusives for the store.

"Television is here," Gordon Selfridge had said when he launched the store's ground-breaking inter-active studio in 1939. "You can't ignore it." By the Eighties – the decade when shopping went turbo-charged – it was propelled on its way by the weekly fix of TV's Dallas and Dynasty. At the time when fashion on the box was about big hair, big shoulders – and big budgets – Selfridges became the first British department store to advertise on television.

1997-2002

In the six years he spent at the store, Vittorio Radice is acknowledged to have re-vitalised the great slumbering space that was Selfridges. "Shopping is entertainment," said Radice. "It's not just about the product, but about the smile, the packaging, the whole ambience."

Before long, the yellow carrier was to become the hottest accessory in town – and not just in London. Selfridges opened a store in Trafford Park, Manchester in 1998, followed by the Exchange Square store in Manchester's city centre in 2002. A multi-million pound store in Birmingham designed by radical architects Future Systems opened in 2003.

He and his wife Hilary are closely involved in the development and growth of Selfridges. Their daughter Alannah is Creative Director and drives the vision of providing the ultimate customer experience.

Selfridges Group Limited is run by Managing Director Paul Kelly and Selfridges UK is run by Managing Director Anne Pitcher.

The most recent years have seen significant investment being made in the stores. In Oxford Street the splendour of the Grade II listed building has been restored and updated to create a striking backdrop for contemporary retail design, such as the Wonder Room – launched in 2007 and The Shoe Galleries launches in 2010. In several areas, including the Designer Rooms, the windows have been opened up and natural light flooded in.

The commercial success of Selfridges has been coupled with accolades: Best Multiple Retailer (Drapers Awards 2008); Best Retailer (Visit London People's Choice Awards 2008); Store of the Decade (Retail Interiors Awards 2008), culminating in Best Department Store in the World 2010.

Selfridges today is in a vibrant, energetic era that adds a new dimension – totally in tune with the legacy of Gordon Selfridge.