The world's greatest department store
Harrods department store in London
Decidedly posh and more than a bit snobbish (no jeans, no shorts, backpacks must be carried—which is a recent retreat from the old policy of 'no backpacks allowed at all'), Harrods is the only store in the world that offers you any item you can possibly want and backs up its word. Legend has it that a customer once jokingly asked if the Harrods staff could procure him an elephant, to which the sales assistant calmly replied "Of course, Sir. African or Indian?"
With 1,200,000 square feet and 300 departments, the store carries just about everything you can imagine, all of it priced to sell to the throngs of Japanese tourists. Bargains rarely abound—for everyday purchases of any sort, I stick to good ol' Marks & Spenser, Britain's answer to Sears and K-Mart, but I do love dropping by to peruse the fabulous food halls on the ground floor—500 varieties of cheese, anyone?—especially to pick up tins of teas as gifts. This is also the greatest single stop for picking up gourmet picnic supplies—Hyde Park is just up the road. If you're in town around Christmastime, Harrods is festively lit up.
87–135 Brompton Rd
tel. +44-(0)20-7730-1234
www.harrods.com
Tips
- Planning your time: If you just want to poke your head in and see, say, the food halls, give it 15–20 minutes. Shopaholics may spend half a day lost in here. (
on London Itineraries.) - Free gift!: If you have a London Pass
, present it at the Lower Ground Floor shop for a free gift when you spend £25.
- Take a tour of that includes a shopping stop at Harrods with our partners at Viator.com:
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This article was last updated in May 2007. All information was accurate at the time.
Copyright © 1998–2010 by Reid Bramblett. Author: Reid Bramblett.
