Harrods is an upmarket department store on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London.
Apart from the store, the Harrods Group of companies includes Harrods Bank, Harrods Estates, Harrods Casino, Harrods Aviation and Air Harrods.
The store occupies a 4.5 acre (18,000 square metre) site and has over 1 million square feet (over 92,000 square metres) of selling space.
The Harrods motto is
Omnia Omnibus Ubique - All Things, For All People, Everywhere.
Several of its departments, including the seasonal Christmas department and Food Hall are world famous for the abundance and quality of goods on offer.
The nearest tube station to the flagship store is Knightsbridge on the fashionable street of that name, so Harrod's called itself "Harrods of Knightsbridge", and effectively expanded Knightsbridge to include itself.
Harrods's owner is the colourful Egyptian Mohamed Al-Fayed who bought the store in 1985 for £615 million.
Harrods began in London's poor East End at the beginning of Queen Victoria's reign.
In 1835, Charles Henry Harrod, a tea merchant and grocery wholesaler, started his own shop opposite his home in Stepney. Harrod was worried by a cholera epidemic sweeping London and he knew a businessman who wanted to get out of a lease on a grocery shop near Knightsbridge. The shop was moved in 1849 to what was then semi-rural Brompton Road.
As Knightsbridge was built up, Harrods grew with it and several adjoining buildings were taken over by the store.
To be the number one department store in the world for luxury branded merchandise maintaining an unprecedented level of retail standards, expertise and profitability.
Through a combination of product, innovation and eccentricity, we aim to provide every customer with a truly unforgettable experience in our quintessentially British environment.
Source: Wikipedia
