Harrods to remove Al-Fayed's Egyptian themed escalators

"Probably in part because of how Harrods developed, slowly expanding piecemeal to swallow up existing shops until it had the whole block, the interior of the shop has a very claustrophobic feeling about it. For all its apparent grandeur externally and on the ground floor, once you get above the ground floor, it's really not much more than an indoor market. No different really to indoor markets in many towns, both selling t-shirts made in Vietnam, but with wildly different price tags."

"Department stores traditionally traded on their broad range of goods, all selected internally by their own buyers and displayed in grand, impressive buildings. It was hard retail that used showmanship to persuade you to part with your cash. And it was the in-house buying that set the department store apart from the rest. You would not go into a department store and see the same brands inside it as you did on the high street."

Harrods will remove its Egyptian-themed central escalators and update the decoration, including the removal of Mohamed Al-Fayed's face. The escalators exemplify deeper problems with the store's interior design and layout. Harrods expanded piecemeal, swallowing adjacent shops until it occupied an entire block, producing a claustrophobic interior. Above the ground floor the store often feels like an indoor market, with similar merchandise to high-street markets but far higher prices. Traditional department stores relied on in-house buyers, curated ranges and theatrical displays to differentiate themselves. The rise of concessions since the late 1980s and 1990s transformed stores into marketplaces of independent brands selling their own wares and staffing their spaces, fragmenting the shopping experience.

Read at ianVisits