Harrods in the context of "Mohamed Al-Fayed"

Hans Place (usually pronounced /ˈhænz/ HANZ) is a garden square in the Knightsbridge district of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, immediately south of Harrods in SW1. It is named after Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet, PRS (16 April 1660 – 11 January 1753), physician and collector, notable for his bequest, which became the foundation of the British Museum.

A food hall is a large standalone location or department store section where food and drinks are sold.

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (often known by its initialism as RBKC) is an Inner London borough with royal status. It is the smallest borough in London and the second smallest district in England; it is one of the most densely populated administrative regions in the United Kingdom. It includes affluent areas such as Notting Hill, Kensington, South Kensington, Chelsea, and Knightsbridge.

The borough is immediately west of the City of Westminster, east of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, south of the London Borough of Brent and north of the London Borough of Wandsworth across the River Thames. It contains major museums and universities in South Kensington, department stores such as Harrods, Peter Jones and Harvey Nichols, and embassies in Belgravia, Knightsbridge and Kensington Gardens. The borough is home to the Notting Hill Carnival, Europe's largest, and contains many of the most expensive residential properties in the world, as well as Kensington Palace, a British royal residence.

Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End. Knightsbridge is also the name of the roadway which runs near the south side of Hyde Park from Hyde Park Corner.

Knightsbridge is an affluent district in London with a rich history. Its name has Old English origins, meaning "bridge of the young men or retainers." The area was initially divided between local authorities and has been home to several parishes. Knightsbridge is known as the home of exclusive department stores including Harrods and Harvey Nichols, banks and schools catering to a global clientele including Hill House International Junior School, as well as for renowned restaurants and high-end salons. Property prices in the district are among the highest in the world, with the most expensive apartment at One Hyde Park selling for £100 million in 2007.

Whiteleys was a shopping centre in Bayswater, London. It was built in the retail space of the former William Whiteley Limited department store, which opened in 1911 as one of London's first department stores, and was one of the main department stores, alongside Selfridge's, Liberty's and Harrods. The centre's main entrance was located on Queensway.

The building is owned by Meyer Bergman and CC Land. In December 2018, Whiteleys was closed for redevelopment. It has been converted into a Norman Foster-designed mixed-use asset comprising 139 condominium apartments, the UK's first Six Senses hotel, and retail units on the ground floor.

Selfridges Retail Limited (doing business as Selfridges and occasionally Selfridges & Co.) is a British department store chain. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge in 1909. The historic Daniel Burnham-designed Selfridges flagship store at 400 Oxford Street in London opened on 15 March 1909 and is the second-largest shop in the UK (after Harrods). Other Selfridges stores opened in the Manchester area at the Trafford Centre (1998) and at Exchange Square (2002), and in Birmingham at the Bullring (2003).

During the 1940s, smaller provincial Selfridges stores were sold to the John Lewis Partnership, and in 1951, the original Oxford Street store was acquired by the Liverpool-based Lewis's chain of department stores. Lewis's and Selfridges were then taken over in 1965 by the Sears Group, owned by Charles Clore. Expanded under the Sears Group to include branches in Manchester and Birmingham, the chain was acquired in 2003 by Canada's Galen Weston for £598 million. In December 2021, the Weston family agreed to sell the majority of Selfridges Group for around £4 billion to a joint venture between Thai conglomerate Central Group and Austria's Signa Holding. The acquisition was completed on 23 August 2022. However, after Signa faced financial difficulties and declared bankruptcy, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) acquired Signa's shares in Selfridges, becoming a co-owner alongside the Central Group.

Charles William Stephens (c.1845 – 4 August 1917) was a British architect. As architect to the Harrods department store in London from 1892 until his death, he was responsible for the store's famous Baroque-style façade on Brompton Road. His other designs include Harvey Nichols department store, the new Claridge's hotel, 54 Parkside, and the Park Lane Hotel, all in London.

Charles Digby Harrod (25 January 1841 – 15 August 1905) was an English businessman who expanded Harrods in London into a department store after his father, Charles Henry Harrod had retired.

Charles Henry Harrod (16 April 1799, Lexden, Colchester – 31 March 1885, Chiswick Urban District) was an English business tycoon, involved in the retail trade. He is known best as the founder of the Harrods Department Store in London, which is known especially for its food halls, sales of luxury foreign foods and its fashion and beauty departments. Harrods also retails its own exclusive brand.