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:
- 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.
- 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.
- The current building was built between 1901 and 1905 and was commissioned by Richard Burbidge.
- Mohamed Al-Fayed doesn't own the shop anymore. He sold it to Qatar Holdings for £1.5 billion in 2010.
- Harrods covers over five acres of land and has more than 1,000,000 square feet of floor space.
- 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.
- 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.
- Also back in 1917 Harrods had its own zoo.
- 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.
- Approximately 100,000 people come to shop at Harrods on an average day. At peak times it can be as many as 300,000.
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