15. An American department store manager founded one of London’s most iconic stores
Chicago’s Marshall Field’s employed for years a manager by the name of Harry Gordon Selfridge, who enjoyed the daily give and take of dealing with both staff and customers. His willingness to be involved at the hands-on level freed Marshall Field from doing so, much to the latter’s pleasure, and Selfridge eventually became a partner in the venture. It was Selfridge who is alleged to have coined the famous dictum of retailing that the customer is always right. He was also given credit for establishing the Christmas shopping countdown, to wit: (X) number of shopping days until Christmas, which was displayed throughout the season in a countdown on every floor of Field’s Chicago store. In 1906 Selfridge visited London during the Christmas season and was dismayed at the British reserve he found in that city’s shopping emporiums, including the newly opened Harrod’s Kensington store.
Selfridge left Field’s as well as is native United States (he was born in Wisconsin) and emigrated to London to open a department store which displayed what he believed to be the best features of the American version. His store, named for himself, opened in 1909 in London’s West End. He made his store a destination, and used his Chicago-developed reputation to attract American filmmakers to feature the store in their work. Chaplin (The Floorwalker), the Marx Brothers (The Big Store) and many years later Jerry Lewis (Who’s Minding the Store) all used Selfridge’s as a set for successful films. Selfridge’s reputation was developed by treating customers as welcome guests, and the store included reading and smoking rooms, restaurants and tea rooms, reception rooms, a rooftop terrace, and other amenities which one is unlikely to find in a modern version of a department store, somewhat sad to say.