Selfridges

Selfridges is a chain of department stores 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 is credited with coining the phrase "The customer is always right", by using extensive advertising. Instead of keeping products behind counters, Selfridges decided to place them on displays that were more accessible to customers. Such changes were soon adopted by other retailers. Selfridges was also the first retailer to have the perfume counters at the front of the store on the ground floor, something that all department stores now do.

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 April-27 April 1925.

For almost 90 years, Selfridges was a one-location business, but in 1998 it opened its first store outside London, at the Trafford Centre, on the outskirts of Manchester. By the end of 2003, Selfridges had four stores: two in Manchester and (the latest) one in Birmingham's Bullring shopping complex which opened in September 2003. The Birmingham store is covered in 15,000 spun aluminium discs and was designed by architects Future Systems. A further store is scheduled to open in Glasgow in 2007.

Susanne Tide-Frater, former Creative Director, is credited by some with bringing Selfridges to the forefront of fashion and retail in the UK. However, she was fired in 2004 to make way for the new owner's daughter, Alannah Weston, who took over the position.

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