Shop Til You Drop

Selfridges is a large department store which has its flagship store in Oxford Street, London but also has stores in Manchester and Birmingham. The London store was opened in 1909 and is an impressive building on the busy thoroughfare in Oxford Street. If travelling by tube you can either get off at Marble Arch or Bond Street as it is a short walking distance from both.

The store has impressive large windows with some amazing window displays. The window displays aren't the kind that you see something you'd like to wear and that makes you want to go in but they are the kind that make you stop and look. On my last visit the windows were themed with a grecian theme with lovely white dresses and huge big pillars.

Many people living in London probably take Selfridges a bit for granted but although we have department stores where I live they are nowhere near the same scale as Selfridges. When I walk into the shop I am just struck by the sheer size of it. The perfume and beauty hall is just immense, it is almost a little to big and you don't know where to start.

The shop pretty much sells everything, not quite the kitchen sink but close enough. There are certainly a wide range of products and prices to suit a wide range of budgets too. There is perfume, cosmetics, handbags (gorgeous gorgeous but very expensive handbags!), clothes (lots and lots of lovely clothes), kitchen utensils, china, books, luggage, gifts, toys, pet accessories, candles pretty much everything you would want in a department store.

The shop is spread out over 6 floors. The Lower Ground Floor includes a bookshop, luggage and the cook shop. The Ground Floor includes fragrance, beauty, stationery, the foodhall and women's street fashion which is geared more to the younger women including clothes from high street stores and labels like Lipsy. The First Floor is the Menswear, Men's shoes and accessories. The Second Floor is the for the Ladies, including designer wear, clothes, shoes and accessories. The Third Floor has lingerie and also childrenswear. Finally up on the Fourth Floor is furniture, lighting and bedding.

The clothing departments are really large both for men and for women although the women do get the larger space! There are clothes for most budgets from the more high street store fashions on the ground floor to the high end designers upstairs.

The shop has lots of toilets and they seem to be on every floor unlike the department stores where I live where the toilets always seem to be tucked away on the top floor and have huge queues. There are also several places to stop and have a drink, snack or something more substantial to eat.

The store is open 7 days a week. On Mondays to Saturdays it is open from 9.30am to 8pm with late night opening on a Thursday to 9pm. On Sundays it opens from 11.30am to 6pm although you can't actual purchase anything until 12noon.

On my last shopping trip to Selfridges I didn't actually buy anything but did spend quite a bit of time browsing the various departments. I did try on some nice jackets in the ladies department which were reduced quite significantly. However I decided to leave them despite a very attentive (perhaps a little too much) assistant who kept running and bringing more jackets and saying how about this one, or what about this? I thanked her but said I'd leave it for the moment. It is nice when shop assistants are helpful but there is a fine balance between helpful and pushy!

I have always visited the store when I have been on holiday and have gone midweek when the store is much quieter. Its much better if you want any assistance with anything. On my first visit when walking through the beauty hall an assistant at one of the counters asked if I would like my make-up done. I then got my make-up done with her teaching me the techniques at the same time and there was no pressure to buy although I did end up buying some eyeliner and a brush as I really liked the effect.

The Cookshop is great if like me you like little gadgets and accessories for the kitchen. They have a large selection of lovely Alessi accessories which are really great. They also quite often have cooking demonstrations and when I was there last they had been making chocolate cake to demonstrate the silicone bakeware and the smell filled the area, yum!

Selfridges is a really nice department store that gives a lovely shopping experience and is a great place to browse even if you don't actually buy anything. My purse is probably quite thankful though that there isnt a Selfridges near me or I might be popping in too regularly!

Tags fashion,  designer,  shops,  clothing,  selfridges,  london, 

All you could ever want, at a price

Pros: Selfridges is the holy grail of department stores of course, and housed in this historic building on Oxord street it really is a big magnet for londoners and tourists alike. Mostly though, you'll be window shopping here, unless you're on a big splurge. I've occasionally bought make up and once or twice clothes, but I can really never escape the conviction that I'm being charged just to shop in somewhere so luxurious. I do recommend their cocktails in their bar though - really good for a break from shopping!

Cons: I sometimes get a bit stressed by the amount of people who are trying to help all at once in Selfridges. Sometimes it's nice to be left to wander, but I know they're trying to be helpful.

A great department store

Pros: I have been to Selfridges the store, and the website and I really like their collection, they have really nice clothing for women and my girlfriend loves to buy their clothing as it is just such good quality. The men’s clothing is really good too and I love the look from advertisement on their website of the ‘black label’ sport wear, so I will be keeping an eye out on the internet for when you can start to buy that.
They also have Ralph Lauren clothing for men to buy too, so the shop is very designer with a wide variety of products for the whole family.
They also sell children’s toys and even really wooden rocking horses which you can have made to how you want it, and there is a Father Christmas grotto for the children to visit.
The also sell jewellery, hampers, wine and cosmetics for men and women.

Cons: The only negative thing about Selfridges is the pricing, which can be quite high especially for men like me who earn an average wage, but it is even just worth a look around, and they have some amazing Christmas decorations to see.