“The customer is always right” is a phrase that is now firmly entrenched in the retail lexicon. It may, in the 21st century, seem like an all too obvious and perhaps even outdated sentiment, but it’s one that has shaped the nature of our interactions with the stores we buy from. It’s a phrase coined by Harry Gordon Selfridge, and was firmly rooted in the ethos of his Oxford Street store, Selfridges, but is just one example of how department stores have shaped the history of consumerism. It is perhaps also worth noting that Selfridges was the first store to leave its lights on at night, so people walking past could indulge in a spot of window shopping, and it was also the originator of the now ubiquitous “Countdown to Christmas” phrase.
There is a certain romanticism that shrouds the world's best-known department stores. Who can visit New York for the first time without popping into Bloomingdale's? Even Queen Elizabeth II toured the store during her 1976 visit to the city. In the same vein, a trip to London is hardly complete without a stop at Harrods, where A A Milne bought his son, Christopher Robin, the bear that would eventually inspire the childhood classic Winnie-the-Pooh.
The concept of the department store was born out of the Industrial Revolution and the subsequent rise of the middle class. Though the wealthy already had access to tailors and dressmakers, the middle class were in need of somewhere to spend their disposable income. Enter Harding, Howell & Co. The brand, which opened in London in 1796, is considered by many as the world’s first department store. Rather than stocking one particular item, Harding, Howell & Co divided itself into four departments: fur and fans, haberdashery, jewellery and clocks, and hats. By focusing on meeting the needs of fashionable women, the store itself provided a place for females to browse and shop, away from home and men, but still in a respectable manner.
In the 1800s, high-end names such as Bloomingdale’s and Le Bon Marché, in Paris, began to emerge. These multilevel shopping locations offered customers what Matthew Temby, vice president of commercial for Harvey Nichols Dubai, calls “the one-stop shop”, which was designed to satisfy a range of retail requirements within a single location.
The introduction of department stores, particularly high-end ones, also brought the “focus entirely onto the customer”, explains Helen David, fashion director of Harrods, located in Knightsbridge, London. Customers were and still are encouraged to spend as much time as possible in the stores, which offered a day out that was “convenient, efficient and as rewarding as possible”.
Department stores, both regionally and around the world, eventually became an entertainment experience of sorts. Even the advent of large shopping malls did nothing to quell the popularity of the department store – instead, it became an integral part of the mall experience. David Macadam, chief executive of the Middle East Council of Shopping Centres, points to Bloomingdale’s Dubai in The Dubai Mall as a case in point. It is, he says, the right size and the right layout, where countless different items come together to create a “visual cornucopia” of great things.
Shopping and entertainment weren’t the only two things that department stores offered their customers, particularly in the first half of the 20th century. They became a fundamental part of the communities they served. For example, during the First World War, Harrods gave its full support to the war effort by building and equipping a number of hospitals in Belgium. Meanwhile, over at Selfridges, female workers were stepping in to fill the jobs vacated by their male counterparts. They drove delivery vans, cleaned windows, operated lifts, formed a fire brigade and even stoked the store’s huge boilers. It was also during this time that Selfridge made famous the phrase “business as usual”. With this he hoped to offer the British public a special service – perhaps one that wasn’t being offered elsewhere – in spite of the war raging around them.
When the Second World War hit, Harrods once again played its part, allowing for areas of the shop to be taken over for military use. Parachutes and aircraft parts were manufactured in-store outside of trading hours, while the Royal Canadian Air Force was given a base on the premises.
While department stores have existed in places such as Europe and the United States for more than 200 years, the concept is still relatively new to the region.
This year, Bloomingdale’s Dubai celebrates its five-year anniversary while Saks Fifth Avenue opened its BurJuman location 11 years ago. Bloomingdale’s and the first Macy’s outside the United States will also be coming to Abu Dhabi’s Al Maryah Island by 2018.
Nonetheless, department stores have become a fundamental part of the region’s retail experience, often acting as anchors for the region’s mega malls and setting the tone for the shopping experience. “If you look at the effect a department store has in the region, it’s major. Look at The Dubai Mall, for example. Emaar wanted to have a number of great retailers on the ground floor that would make the difference and have the same look and feel that Bloomingdale’s Dubai did,” says Macadam, who was executive vice president of leasing for Emaar during the development. The decision of where each shop is situated, for example the placement of the jewellery district on the ground floor, in proximity to Bloomingdale’s Dubai, is entirely intentional. As visitors walk farther away from that area, the shops become less high-end and more high street. “The department store basically sets the tone for the [surrounding] retail environment,” he notes.
In this part of the world, the department store is all the more important because it acts as a vital platform for new and emerging brands to gain exposure, explains Harvey Nichols’s Temby. The environment is perfect, he says, as newer local designers are displayed “side by side” with more established ones. Harvey Nichols Dubai’s Project Summer pop-up campaign, which ran from June to July and again in September, is a good example, as it positioned local and regional designers such as Bedouin, Zena Presley, Faisal and All Things Mochi in “prime locations” around the store. “This created a very positive response from our customers and hopefully elevated the opportunity for so many talented local designers who have so much potential,” says Temby.
As with most aspects of the luxury industry, the department store is constantly evolving. “Historically, the first product that Harrods ever sold was tea,” says David. Since then there have been significant changes made to all departments, from food and fashion to homeware and technology. “In the early 1900s, many of our garments were imported from Paris or made in Harrods’s fashion workshops in England,” she says. It wasn’t until the 1920s and 1930s that the store began to stock more recognisable brands like Chanel, Balenciaga and Mainbocher. Today, the store has an impressive seven floors and close to 330 departments.
Some changes, of course, have happened outside of the stores themselves. David notes that, thanks to the growing popularity of online shopping, there are now “very few true department stores” still in existence. Temby echoes this sentiment, explaining that the landscape of the department store has changed drastically since Harvey Nichols Dubai first opened. When the bricks-and-mortar store launched in Mall of the Emirates in 2006, he explains, it was the only channel available to customers. With the onset of the digital era, however, the entire experience has altered. “The customer is more demanding. They want to shop when they want and how they want,” he says.
So how will department stores, which have survived world wars and made such a contribution to the retail landscape, weather this next storm? For David, it’s about keeping ahead of the curve, not just in terms of other department stores in the United Kingdom, but around the world as well. “I visit Asia and the Middle East frequently,” she says. This, she explains, helps her stay on top of what customers are looking for, while remaining aware of cultural trends and developments. And despite the onslaught of online shopping, David doesn’t seem overly concerned. “Online shopping has heightened what department stores were traditionally famous for in terms of retail theatre and environment,” she says. “Our Superbrands department is an example of how e-commerce cannot replicate the [department-store] environment.” The space features international brands – from Dior to Saint Laurent – that have all created their own custom-designed boutiques in a “beautiful and elegant environment”. The experience is paired with exclusive-to-Harrods pieces and a high standard of customer service, something David says is not part of the e-commerce environment.
What, then, can customers expect from department stores over the coming years? For Temby, it comes full circle, back to the digital trend. “Digital advancement will be obvious to the customer in-store,” he says. Whether it’s equipping staff with smart mobile devices, as seen in Bloomingdale’s in California, or Selfridges’ augmented reality pop-up watch shop that was displayed last year, high-end department stores cannot ignore the digital era. Temby does, however, acknowledge that because of this trend, such stores will be focusing on increasing the personalisation of in-store customer service. He also suggests that, closer to home, part of the success of the department store will depend on whether these shops “lift their customer-service standards”. It would seem that, even in 2015, Selfridge’s famous phrase still reverberates loudly through the floors of today’s high-end department stores.
alane@thenational.ae