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Harrods
is an upmarket department store on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London. Apart from the store, the Harrods Group of companies includes Harrods Bank, Harrods Estates, Harrods Casino, Harrods Aviation and Air Harrods.
The store has an estimated five acres (20,000 m²) of floorspace over five floors. The Harrods motto is . Several of its departments, including the seasonal Christmas department and Food Hall are world famous for the abundance and quality of goods on offer. The nearest tube station to the flagship store is Knightsbridge. Harrods's current owner is the Egyptian tycoon Mohamed Al-Fayed who bought the store in 1985 for £615 million. Harrods was recently awarded an Imperial Mark, after being stripped of its Duke of Edinburgh Royal Warrant.
HistoryHarrods started off in London's East End at the beginning of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1835, Charles Henry Harrod, a tea merchant and grocery wholesaler, started his own shop opposite of his home in Stepney. Harrod was worried by a cholera epidemic sweeping London and he knew a businessman who wanted to get out of a lease on a grocery shop in Knightsbridge. The shop was moved in 1849 to what was then semi-rural Brompton Road.
As Knightsbridge grew Harrods grew with it and several adjoining buildings were taken over by the store.
* 1861 - Harrods undergoes a transformation when it was taken over by Harrod's son, Charles Digby Harrod. * December 6 , 1883, fire gutted the shop buildings, giving the family the opportunity to rebuild on a grander scale. * 1889 - Charles Digby Harrod retired, Harrods was floated on the London Stock Exchange under the name . * 1912 - Harrods opened its only foreign branch in Buenos Aires, Argentina . The store was modelled on the Knightsbridge store. It continued to be associated with the parent store until the 1950's when links were severed. It continues to trade under the Harrods name. Harrods store at night-time, February 2005 * 1959 - House of Fraser bought Harrods. * 1985 - The store was bought by the Mohamed Al-Fayed in 1985 for £615 million, since then the selling space has enlarged to include previously staff-only and storage areas in the basement and top floors.
IRA AttacksHarrods has been targeted by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) three times in its history. The first of these was on 15 December 1974 with an incendiary bomb placed inside the store on the first floor in the corner nearest the tube exit. The most serious incident took place on December 17, 1983, when a car bomb was detonated, killing six people and wounding ninety. Despite the structural damage, Harrods re-opened three days later.
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