Shopping

Selfridges' Christmas shop is a winter wonderland

And at no time of year are the windows more crucial than at Christmas. This year they are based on a fairytale by children’s author Maggie Prince about a highwayman. As he flees across the windows with his swag, past neatly manicured topiary, he leaves a glittering trail of gold contraband. The Christmas windows are a huge undertaking; simply dressing them takes the team and outside contractors eight days. Though this year’s designs have only just gone on display, brainstorming sessions for Christmas 2007 started in early autumn and the theme is generally ‘nailed’ by November.

The Christmas shop opens on the lower ground floor in August to cater for the tourists who make a pilgrimage from abroad as well as other parts of the UK. (Only right and proper since Gordon Selfridge invented the countdown of shopping days left till Christmas.) Meanwhile, the store’s buyers have already put in their orders for 2007. Feature continues

The bestselling bauble, according to Christmas buying manager Geraldine James, is a shiny red, blue and silver Union Jack number (£4.95). At the other end of the spectrum is a box of luxury crackers priced at £1,000. This Christmas, the buyers have also focused on a vintage look, acquiring lametta, fake snow and replica snowmen. ‘The sort of thing you might find in granny’s attic,’ says James. Altogether, 40,000 units of Christmas stock have been bought in for the festive season.

The new 'Designer Room' on the third floor

Under the creative directorship of Vittorio Radice – poached by Marks & Spencer in 2003 – Selfridges became known for its store-wide themed promotions, now much imitated by rivals. Tokyo, Brazil and Las Vegas filled the store with specially imported goods, live performance, interactive displays and pop-up bars. You knew Gordon Selfridge would have given them his blessing. These promotions are continuing under the new management but on a smaller scale. As Thompson says, ‘we ended up competing against ourselves. It drove people in, but we were still selling sequins from Brazil the next year.’ The ‘Football Fever Eating the City’ promotion (to celebrate the World Cup) or the series of bizarre punk gigs last spring generated interest without overkill.

Will they try a big one again? ‘They were too huge to deal with alongside Christmas,’ says Thompson. ‘There was a feeling of working for six months on each with not much time for anything else. But, you know, never say never in retail.’

So the store continues the Selfridge entertainment philosophy, but what about selling things? To better understand this huge store, with its 500,000 square feet of retail space (approximately 12 football pitches) and its sales jargon, I join the smiley but extremely efficient store director Tracey Mann on her rounds, which she usually undertakes every Monday – and they can take several hours. ‘Some of us wear pedometers – the record set by one manager was 12 miles in a day,’ she says.

Her experienced eye can instantly pick out anything jarring, whether it’s gossiping staff or an unkempt area. ‘I can look around and immediately spot an untidy display, any dust, dirt or dead bulbs. And I check that everyone is smiling and wearing their badge.’ When she suddenly disappears, it transpires she’d spotted a gaggle of staff standing chatting together. ‘I don’t like that,’ she says, ‘it’s intimidating for the customer.’ She reckons she recognises by face about half the staff – not bad given that there are nearly 4,000 of them.