HARRY SELFRIDGE: BORN 1858
RETAIL IMPRESSARIO

Harry Selfridge’s extraordinary life was one of triumph, fantasy, infatuation and downfall. The triumph was the creation of London’s first and still most imposing department store. His fantasies were a scheme to build a 450 foot tower on top of Selfridges, and to build on the Dorset coast the country’s largest private house. His gadabout time in Deauville led to his infatuation with the glamorous, notorious and indentical Dolly Twins. His downfall came after he had spent all his money on high living and the Dolly Twins.

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LIFE

Selfridge promoted the radical notion of shopping for pleasure rather than necessity. His Oxford Street department store, which opened in 1909, took London by storm. The shop floors were structured so that goods could be made more accessible to customers. There were elegant restaurants with modest prices, a library, reading and writing rooms, special reception rooms for French, German, American and "Colonial" customers, a First Aid Room, and a Silence Room, with soft lights, deep chairs, and double-glazing, all intended to keep customers in the store as long as possible.

Following the success of Selfridges he embarked on an unrealised project to build as his home a castle (which would have been the world’s largest) on a peninsula near Bournemouth. After the death of his wife Rosalie from infuenza in 1919, Selfridge’s life deteriorated. He spent much time at Deaville, where to took up with the glamorous and notorious dancers the Dolly Sisters, who were identical twins. He funded their gambling, and showered them with expensive gifts, including a pair of pet tortoises with diamonds embedded in the shells.

Having spent all his money, he was ejected from the management of Selfridges, and died at the age of 89 in poverty in Putney, south London. He would in old age take the bus to stare at Selfridges from the outside.

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