Harrods (London)

87-135 Brompton Road
Knightsbridge London SW1X 7XL, United Kingdom
Phone: +44 20 7730 1234
www.harrods.com/harrodsstore/

Harrods department store in Brompton, London is the joint-largest department store in the world (shared with Macy's in New York) and by far the largest in the UK; the second largest in the UK(Selfridges on Oxford Street) is only a quarter of that size. It specializes in luxury goods which are sold in 330 departments.

It was founded by Charles Harrod in 1834 who opened a grocery shop in Stepney. Fifteen years later, he moved to the present site in Brompton still selling groceries, but it later began to sell more goods and expand, taking over nearby buildings. In 1883, a fire burnt it to the ground so over the next 20 years it was built to its much grander size. For some time it was owned by House of Fraser and then by the Al-Fayed family.

Harrods claims to have had the first proper escalator, and often brandy was offered at the top of it to customers who found it a bit of an ordeal. There are some recent controversies over the sale of fur. The nearest tube station is at Knightsbridge; there is an entrance across the road.

Up to 300,000 customers visit the store on peak days, comprising the highest proportion of customers from non-English speaking countries of any department store in London. More than five thousand staff from over fifty different countries work at Harrods.

A fleet of fifty delivery vehicles make up to 225,000 deliveries every year. Approximately 11,500 energy-efficient light bulbs turn Harrods into a beacon of light each night, 300 of which are replaced every day.

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