London Store

In 1890, one Harry Gordon Selfridge, Wisconsin born, became a member of Marshall Field & Co. in Chicago. Fourteen years later, after he had shown himself a great department store executive, had become general manager of and partner in his firm, he retired from business.

Like all U. S. voyagers in England, he enjoyed the quiet, the courtesy, the fine products of the English specialty shop. These, the result of intense retail competition, were typical of 19th Century British trade. It was pleasant to shop in them. But, to the mind of Mr. Selfridge, restless in retirement, they seemed expensive to operate, each with its separate overhead charges. The U. S. department store, while more raucous, was more economical and, too, more convenient for customers. It should be possible to merge the advantages of both the British and the U. S. systems of retailing.

Selfridge & Co.'s department store in London, the embodiment of these reflections, was founded in 1909. Its building in Oxford Street is a guidepost for beautiful store architecture. Sales people address clients by name. In 17 years it has become, except possibly for Harrod's, the greatest retail store in England.

Mr. Selfridge has grown proud of his store. It has become his life's accomplishment. So, with the intention of perpetuating it as the climax of his achievements, he last week wrote a letter to his customers : "I want to know that, whatever happens, the business which I have founded and into which I have put so much of myself will go on. Naturally, I should like Selfridge's to remain in the family, but I do not want to feel that if one of my descendants is weak and incapable of administration, this great firm will go down with him."

To provide against that, he had organized a -L-2,000,000 trust to take over the share capital of his-firm. Securities of this trust he was offering his store clients.

Mr. Selfridge hastened to anticipate carpings: "My own fortune, of course, remains in these shares, and I have no possible thought of changing it or of ever retiring from active business."