Harrods

Harrods is a luxury department store located on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London. It is now owned by the state of Qatar.[1] The Harrods brand also applies to other enterprises undertaken by the Harrods group of companies including Harrods Estates, Harrods Aviation and Air Harrods, and to Harrods Buenos Aires, sold by Harrods in 1922 and closed as of 2011.[2]

The store occupies a 5-acre (20,000 m2) site and has 330 departments covering one million square feet (90,000 m2) of retail space.

The Harrods motto is Omnia Omnibus Ubique, which is Latin for “all things for all people, everywhere”.[3] Several of its departments, including the seasonal Christmas department and the food halls, are well known.The shop’s 330 departments offer a wide range of products and services. Products on offer include clothing for women, men, children and infants, electronics, jewellery, sporting gear, bridal trousseau, pets and pet accessories, toys, food and drink, health and beauty items, packaged gifts, stationery, housewares, home appliances, furniture, and much more.A representative sample of shop services includes 32 restaurants, serving everything from high tea to tapas to pub food to haute cuisine; a personal shopping-assistance programme known as “By Appointment”; a watch repair service; a tailor; a dispensing pharmacy; a beauty spa and salon; a barbers shop; Ella Jade Bathroom Planning and Design Service; private events planning and catering; food delivery; a wine steward; bespoke picnic hampers and gift boxes; bespoke cakes; bespoke fragrance formulations; and Bespoke Arcades[20] machines.

Up to 300,000 customers visit the shop on peak days, comprising the highest proportion of customers from non-English speaking countries of any department store in London. More than five thousand staff from over fifty different countries work at Harrods.

In 15 October 2009, Harrods Bank started selling gold bars and coins that customers could buy “off the shelf”. The gold products ranged from 1 g to 12.5 kg, and could be purchased within Harrods Bank. They also offered storage services, as well as the ability to sell back gold to Harrods in the future