Harrods

Harrods started selling goods in 1825, established by shrewd business man Charles Henry Harrod. He made many gambles and moves but always putting the delivery of goods to his customers first, and this led to wild success.

In 1883, the buildings at the current location were gutted by fire and this is when the current magnificent store was built.

Strangely the target or IRA bombings during the troubles, the business is now owned by Qatar (yes the government) and there are also a ton of little high end shops around the world in airports.

Why did I write up a store? There is no store like this in the world. You could spend days in here eating, drinking and shopping (not cheap especially with English VAT costs).

The Arrival - Knightsbridge Tube Station

The area of Knightsbridge is the most expensive in the entire city, and has a subway station on the Piccadilly line that most of the time I use to get there and get back (there are exceptions, I have walked there from various places around London when I just want to see things or taken a cab when it's too late for a subway).

If you head down the tunnel to the west, there is an exit there that brings you right at Harrods on the Hans Cre pedestrian road.

The Store

Prepare to be stupefied. This store is massive, taking the entire city block, 333 individual shops plus the open floor shopping areas. 16 places at least to eat and drink. Well, let's get into it.

Outside on Hans Cre, of course the best time of year to shop

An entire room just for perfume. Yes, steel yourself Gents, this room does have quite a strong scent(s) to it

A massive area for the best jewelers in the world. They got hinky when I tried to take pictures of their shops and the one of a kind million-dollar necklaces on display

Not to co-mingle with perfumes, the huge cosmetics area

Upwards of 10s of thousands a bottle for rare and exquisite scotch. It's here for you to take back to your room

The prices on these go past a house. I'm not in the market for this

While there are piles of everything everywhere, the more exclusive and higher end places have their own salons.

Where us normal people might find something to wear vs. the salons

Ahh, somewhat regular items I can relate to more if I am buying (cause let me tell you, travel blogging isn't a way to be a millionaire. Unless you start out with 2 million, you'll end up with 1)

Like at Grandma's, art glass to decorate things because she doesn't have kids breaking them 24/7

A book of the iconic car, in a case made from real Ferrari parts (ok, since you asked, thousands of dollars)

Now, so so many toys, from classic to new to incredibly beautiful hand-crafted individual pieces like riding horses and a mini-Mercedes

Yeah, every watch that costs more than $2,000 is here, in their own room

Of course, the most saleable items are Harry Potter in England these days

And for the best shopping season of the year, a specialized shop dedicated to it

Food and Drink

The incredible array of places to eat and drink in Harrods is kind of hard to grasp. High end steak, low end meat pies, dining halls, restaurants, bars, cafes, and an indoor tea garden. If you can't find something to eat here, you don't eat. (Oh they have a full grocery too in case you want to cook yourself).

Open late, with its own entrance for after store hours

Open early, with its own entrance before store hours (crazy huh? Get here early, eat, shop, then stay late drinking)

Yes, I did indeed have breakfast at Tiffany's. It was $65 for a fixed price menu you choose from - that's per person, and mimosas are extra

Here we go, Pizza! The line was only about an hour long

And so so so many items in the food hall. This kind of place I love because I am the pickiest eater in the world

Let us not forget to have tea in the afternoon, because, to do otherwise just isn't acceptable my dear

Other noticeable things

The design of the store is quite amazing and over the top. Every point of it is an experience. Many services too, like a barber, a gold merchant (yep, buy bars right there), hunting (you can indeed buy guns at Harrods, if you have the license). Well, everything except a road legal car I think.

This entire set from basement to 6th floor, all Egyptian

I did expect to travel through time entering this steampunk masterpiece

I had my hair done before I went, otherwise, I was tempted. They were not busy

Summary

I've been here 7 times now and still not seen all of it, and only cursorily dined, I can say more visits are in my future when I have free time and I'm not otherwise distracted by the 1,001 things to do in London.

Even if you don't buy anything, stop in for some chocolate in the candy room. Everyone can afford one of those.

NAME

MESSAGE