Information AboutSelfridges |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT SELFRIDGES | |
| companies established in 1909 | |
| department stores of the united kingdom | |
| shops in london | |
| buildings and structures in westminster | |
Selfridges is a chain of Department Store s in the United Kingdom . It was founded by American Entrepreneur Harry Gordon Selfridge who opened a large store in London 's Oxford Street on 15 March 1909 . Selfridges website H. Gordon Selfridge was born in 1858 in Ripon, Wisconsin , and in 1879 joined Field, Leiter and Company (later to become Marshall Field & Company), where he worked under the Chicago retailer of the same name. He worked his way up through the firm, married into the prominent Buckingham family, and amassed the fortune with which he built his new London store. Selfridge's innovative marketing led to his success. He tried to make shopping a fun adventure instead of a chore. He put merchandise on display so customers could examine it, put the highly profitable perfume counter front-and-center on the ground floor, and established policies that made it safe and easy for customers to shop — techniques that have been adopted by modern department stores the world over. Either Selfridge or . The phrase, however, predated Selfridge by centuries; he may have assimilated it while purchasing Persian Rugs in Mumbai . He attracted shoppers with educational and scientific exhibits. He was himself interested in education and science, and believed that the displays would introduce potential new customers to Selfridges, generating both immediate and long-term sales. In 1909 , after the first cross- Channel flight, Louis Blériot 's Monoplane was exhibited at Selfridges, where it was seen by 12,000 people. The first public demonstration of Television was by John Logie Baird from the first floor of Selfridges from 1-27 April 1925 . A Milne-Shaw Seismograph was set up on the Selfridge store’s third floor in 1932 , attached to one of the building's main stanchions, unaffected by traffic or shoppers. It recorded the Belgian earthquake of 11 June 1938 which was also felt in London. At the outbreak of war, the seismograph was moved from its original site near the Post Office to another part of the store. In 1947 , the seismograph was given to the British Museum . The provincial stores were sold to the and 2003 , the store supplemented its main store with a store at Trafford Centre in Manchester, a store in Exchange Square, also in Manchester, and a store in the Birmingham Bull Ring shopping complex. In march 1998 Selfridges had acquired a new logo at use to the present which came in tandem with the opening of the Trafford Centre outlet and Selfridges demerger from Sears. .]] Selfridge stores are known for architectural excellence. Their main store was designed by s Future Systems , is covered in 15,000 spun Aluminium discs. The store is highly distinctive for its yellow carrier bags. In 2003 , the chain was acquired by Canada's Galen Weston for £598 million. Weston, a retailing expert who is the owner of Canada's major supermarket chains Loblaws and No Frills among others, has chosen to invest in renovation of the Oxford Street store, rather than to carry out planned expansion to Leeds , Newcastle Upon Tyne , Bristol , and Glasgow which appears to have been abandoned due to plans for stores at the locations having been suspended since 2003 and the planned construction of the Glasgow store having not commenced as of 2007 even though Selfridges own a site in the city. BBC News The Chief Executive is Irish retailer, Paul Kelly. Kelly has worked for the Weston organisation since the mid-eighties. FURTHER READING
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