"SELFRIDGES."

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 106, 3 May 1909, Page 2

"SELFRIDGES."

LONDON, March! 19. An American dry-goods merchant has set out to conquer London in a manner truly Napoleonic. The. openr ing of Self.ridge's great emporium in Oxford Street to-day has been the event of the week mi the metropolis. Money has flowed like water in advertising the new venture, and I hear that no less than a quarter of a million pounds is being spent in this way. The name of Self ridge !has met one's eyes for days past in every newispaper, .standing out in all the boldness of full-page .advertisement. Each day there has been a series of wonderful new cartoons, depicting the glories of Selfiridge's, and on the opening day a f>age or The Times welcomed the pubic to the mew emporium in twentysix different languages! No fewer than 600,000 personal invitations were j isent throughout the land. As a re- ! suit of 'advertising on this colossal i scale, Selfridge's on the opening day I was the most popular sight in. London. ;It is estimated that 200,000 people I visited the new building in the course \of the day. i Selfiridge'is has been described >as the

most classic commercial building in 1 the world. It stands four-square, with ' great classic columns rising on every side from the-'ground floor to the roof. It has dignity and spaciousness, and forms a towering ■land-mark on. the road from Bond Street to the Marble Arch. Self-ridge's sells everything except provisions and wines, 'ana is to be run on American lines to some extent, (though modified, or course, to suit English conditions. No shopwalker advances to meet the customer on entering the doorway with a "What can I do for you?" but instead visitors are invited to wander at will all over the great emporium. rhere are plenty of attendants to direct them to the various departments, but none will press them to buy. Another American feature is the plentiful supply of telephones all oven- the budding. On the third floor are (reception rooms for visitors, decorated indifferent styles. Colonial visitors sire invited to make free and full use of the colonial room, and separate .reception .rooms are reserved for American, French and German visitors. An interpreter's room has been set apart for foreign visitors. There is a rest room for ladies, and a room im which a trained nurse is constantly in attendance to provide first aid to the sick. Railway and steamship _ ticket offices, a bureau de change, a library, information desk, post and telegraph office, and -theatre booking office all find places on the third floor, and a hair-dressing saloon is at the service of customers. On the fourth floor there are suites of restaurants, and for summer weather a roof-garden' is .at the disposal of (the visitors. The brain behind all this great organisation and outlay is an American one. , Mr Selfaidge. was bom 51 years ago, in a little farm house in Wisconsin, and his first job was that of errand boy in a country store. Later on he started a monthly newspaper of his own; and ran the whole show. Then he took to banking, studied law, and at 21 went back to the drapery trade, starting as clerk in a big Chicago house. He rose to be a member of the firm, a director, and the manager of the entire retail business—a business running _ into many .millions sterling a year. Finally ever Chicago was too small for Mr Selfridge. After buying a shop of his own there, he sold out in sbt inoni+hs at a profit of £50,000, and laid his plans for the conquest of the greatest city in the world. JBelfiridge's in Oxford Street is the result.

"Probably every merchant in the world," he says, "who has stood on a London street* cornea* and watched the swarming throngs of people, has wanted to sell merchandise to them. I have this ambition. Money-making As >not my prime object. If it were, my effort would be unnecessary. lam here because my nature crave® for the largest and most useful service of which I am capable."