SELFRIDGE’S 50 YEARS

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28870, 15 April 1959, Page 10

SELFRIDGE’S 50 YEARS

Biggest Shop In Britain [From the London Correspondent of “The Press”] LONDON, March 31. Britain’s biggest shop has been celebrating its fiftieth birthday. In 1909. its founder, Gordon Selfridge, introduced the methods of the American department store to London and Selfridge’s in Oxford street has grown into an institution. It has six acres and a half of selling space and on sale days or before Christmas is estimated to have 150,000 visitors through its doors. Fifty years ago it was revolutionary: there were no haughty floor walkers, a huge and unprecedented advertising campaign was conducted, and customers discovered that no pressure was put on them to buy. Four thousand employees run the shop, which is now owned by a provincial store group. The telephone desk receives 40,000 calls a day. Every day between 700 and 800 vans bring stocks into the vast basement from which lifts could take a double-decker bus to any floor and furniture vans can go right up to the furnishing floor. Floor space in the building covers almost 100,000 sq. ft. and 25 passenger lifts whisk shoppers from floor to floor. The men’s wear department never stocks less than 3000 suits; the food store sells cheese in 147 varieties, delicacies such as smoke turkey pate, exotic fruits, wines and juicy Scottish steaks. Before Gordon Selfridge sited his shop he took careful stock of the volume of traffic that would pass it. Nowadays the volume of traffic and difficulties of parking almost defeat Oxford street shoppers but Selfridge’s solved the problem by opening a seven-floor car park for 1000 cars next to the shop. It is one of the first really big car-parking projects to come to fruition in London.

Legacy Accepted.—Miss Senga Florence Whittingham has advised the registrar of the Christchurch Supreme Court that she is prepared to accept a legacy of £l5OO bequeathed to her under the will of Mrs Ruth Crisp, formerly of Christchurch. Miss Whittingham is how living in Australia. EARLY—Taxation