MK One was a British fashion retailer .
63-575: The company was founded in the 1980s by Mark Brafman, Les Lucy and Alan Simons as Mark One , and became a discount womenswear retailer. In February 1996, Mark One was bought from administration by billionaire Philip Green , future owner of BHS . Shami Ahmed had also made a failed bid for the company in 1996. In the end of the 1990s, a change to the firm's logo saw the firm's name begin to be commonly spelled as "MK One". In July 2003, Green sold most of stake in MK One, whilst keeping 10%, to Elaine McPherson,
126-501: A buyer for MK One. The company was sold from administration back to Mark Brafman, its founder, via Jet Star Retail. Bali Singh took over as boss when Brafman left in October, and Singh tried to acquire more funds to allow the business to continue. One of the company's suppliers, which had not been paid, started the bankruptcy proceedings. Around sixty of the stores were closed. Deloitte continued to act for MK One's original lenders, but
189-476: A company director, it appeared that he would not be stripped of his knighthood. In October 2018, The Daily Telegraph reported that "a leading businessman has been granted an injunction against" the newspaper to stop the "newspaper revealing alleged sexual harassment and racial abuse of staff". The following day, in the House of Lords , Labour peer Peter Hain exercised parliamentary privilege to name Green as
252-426: A cultural and social phenomenon. From the store's soft lighting to the general absence of price tags to live music from string quartets, every detail of the opening was purposeful to draw people into the entire shopping experience and make each shopper feel unique. At Selfridges, shoppers entered another world in which they became "guests," as the store referred to them, and could purchase unique items that differed from
315-411: A history of bold art initiatives when it comes to the window designs. Selfridge himself likened the act of shopping to the act of attending the theatre and encouraged his customers to make this connection as well by covering his show windows with silk curtains before dramatically unveiling the displays on opening day. Just as they do today, the window designs served as the opening act of the entire play of
378-583: A joint venture between Thai conglomerate Central Group and the Austrian Signa Holding for around £4 billion. Selfridge stores are known for architectural innovation and excellence, and are tourist destinations in their own right. The original London store was designed by Daniel Burnham , who also created the Marshall Field's main store in his home town of Chicago . Burnham was the leading American department store designer of
441-631: A retailing expert who is the owner of Loblaw Companies in Canada, chose to invest in the renovation of the Oxford Street store—rather than to create new stores in British cities other than Manchester and Birmingham. In October 2009, Selfridges revived its rooftop entertainment with the pop up "The Restaurant on the Roof" restaurant. In July 2011, Truvia created an emerald green boating lake (with
504-615: A series of profit downgrades and in 1992 he resigned when the company failed to meet its profit forecast. Next, Green assisted his wife Tina Green in the purchase of the Arcadia Group , which owns High Street chains such as Burton , Dorothy Perkins , Evans , Miss Selfridge , Outfit, Topshop / Topman and Wallis in 2002. The company was briefly owned by Green but sold to Tina Green within 24 hours, with Philip acting as CEO. On 30 November 2020, Arcadia Group went into administration after high street sales were adversely impacted by
567-534: A time. The Weston family put the Selfridges business up for auction in July 2021, with an estimated value of £4 billion. The sale includes all stores including the flagship Oxford Street store and worldwide outlets. In early December 2021, the family was reported to be finalising the chain's sale to Central Group . On 24 December 2021, it was announced that the majority of Selfridges Group had been sold to
630-612: A waterfall, a boat-up cocktail bar and a forest of Stevia plants). In 2012 the Big Rooftop Tea and Golf Party featured "the highest afternoon tea on Oxford Street" and a nine-hole golf course with "the seven wonders of London" realised in cake as obstacles. In August 2020, during a difficult time for UK retail, Selfridges offered luxury pieces for hire to millennial and socially conscious clients. The store partnered with HURR, an online fashion rental platform, offering hire of 100 items from over 40 fashion brands for up to 20 days at
693-963: A year later. In March 1998, Selfridges introduced new branding in tandem with the opening of the Manchester Trafford Centre store and Selfridges' demerger from Sears. In September 1998, Selfridges expanded and opened its first department store outside London. A 200,000-square-foot (18,600 m ) anchor store at the newly opened Trafford Centre in Greater Manchester . Following its success, Selfridges announced they would open an additional store in Greater Manchester. A 126,000-square-foot (11,700 m ) store in Exchange Square , Manchester city centre . The Exchange Square store opened in 2002 as Manchester city centre started to return to normal following
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#1732798027990756-669: Is a chain of upscale department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited, part of the Selfridges Group of department stores. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge in 1908. The historic Daniel Burnham -designed Selfridges flagship store at 400 Oxford Street in London is the second-largest shop in the UK (after Harrods ) and opened on 15 March 1909. Other Selfridges stores opened at
819-517: Is a fucking Irishman." Green issued an apology to the Irish later, to prevent a customer boycott, according to The Guardian . Green bought BHS for £200m in 2000, but the firm performed poorly so he sold it for just £1 in 2015. By April 2016 BHS had debts of £1.3bn, including a pensions deficit of £571m. Despite the deficit of £571m, Green and his family collected £586m in dividends, rental payments and interest on loans during their 15-year ownership of
882-527: Is covered in 15,000 spun aluminium discs on a background of Yves Klein Blue . Since it opened in 2003, the Birmingham store has been named every year by industry magazine Retail Week as one of the 100 stores to visit in the world. Selfridges' windows have become synonymous also with the brand, and to a certain degree have become as famous as the company and Oxford Street location itself. Selfridges has
945-485: Is involved with Everton Football Club due to his friendship with chairman Bill Kenwright , but states that has no intention of formally investing in the club. He arranged for another friend, Planet Hollywood 's owner Robert Earl , to purchase shares from former director Paul Gregg during a struggle for control of Everton in 2004. He offers business advice to the club alongside Tesco CEO Terry Leahy and helps negotiate player transfer fees with agents. Green became
1008-419: Is popularly held to have coined the phrase " the customer is always right ". In 1909, after the first cross- Channel flight, Louis Blériot 's monoplane was put on display at Selfridges, where it was seen by 150,000 people over a four day period. John Logie Baird made the first public demonstration of moving silhouette images by television from the first floor of Selfridges from 1 to 27 April 1925. In
1071-516: The 1996 Manchester bombing . A 150,000-square-foot (14,000 m ) store soon followed in 2003 at Birmingham's Bull Ring . Plans for expansion and additional stores continued soon after. Desired locations included Leeds , Liverpool , Dublin and Glasgow . The company purchased a site in Glasgow in 2002 and announced a new 200,000 sq ft Scottish flagship store was due to open in 2007. The following year all expansion plans were put on hold as
1134-608: The COVID-19 pandemic . In April 1980, Green registered a philanthropic initiative, the Kahn Charitable Trust, with a vision of "putting lost smiles back on the faces of less privileged persons across the globe." Green is a supporter of the Fashion Retail Academy and the industry charity Retail Trust . Green was made a Knight Bachelor in the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours "For services to
1197-515: The Conservative Party , stating that Cameron and Osborne "understand what needs to be done. They get it." In August 2010, Green was asked by Cameron, then recently elected as Prime Minister, to carry out a review of UK government spending and procurement . Green's summary report, Efficiency Review by Sir Philip Green , published in October 2010, alleged significant failings in government procurement processes. The government published
1260-596: The Four Seasons at Landaagiraavaru , an eco-spa on a private island in the Maldives. Green owns a £100 million, 90 m (300 ft) Benetti Lionheart yacht and a £20 million Gulfstream G550 private jet. For a birthday, his wife bought him a solid gold Monopoly set, featuring his own acquisitions. Green is inspired by Sir Charles Clore , who built the Sears plc UK retail empire from scratch in
1323-550: The House of Commons approved a motion asking the Honours Forfeiture Committee to recommend Green's knighthood be "cancelled and annulled". One hundred MPs voted in favour of the motion, the first time MPs have proposed someone be stripped of a knighthood. The vote was not binding on the government. Following his paying £363m into the BHS pension scheme in 2017, and a decision in 2018 not to ban him from being
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#17327980279901386-474: The House of Commons for an inquiry into the controversial sale of BHS, Green called the inquiry biased, and wrote to Frank Field , the chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee, "I therefore require you to resign immediately from this inquiry." Field pointed out that the size of the pensions deficit is a fact, not a matter of opinion, and that Parliament and not Green decides who chairs Committees. In 2016,
1449-536: The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC). Since 2002, the windows have been photographed by London photographer Andrew Meredith and published in magazines such as Vogue , Dwell , Icon , Frame , Creative Review , Hungarian Stylus Magazine , Design Week , Harper's Bazaar , The New York Times , WGSN as well as many worldwide media outlets, including
1512-652: 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
1575-575: The Topshop , Topman and Miss Selfridge brands in 2021. Green was made a Knight Bachelor in the 2006 Birthday Honours . He has been called the "King of the High Street" but has been involved in a number of controversies during his career, including his actions prior to the demise of BHS in 2016. Green was born on 15 March 1952 in Croydon , England, into a middle-class Jewish family. He
1638-767: The Trafford Centre (1998), in Manchester at the 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
1701-545: The 1920s and 1930s, the roof of the store hosted terraced gardens, cafes, a mini golf course and an all-girl gun club. The roof, with its extensive views across London, was a common place for strolling after a shopping trip and was often used for fashion shows. During the Second World War , the store's basement was used as an air-raid shelter and during raids employees were usually on the lookout for incendiary bombs and took watch in turns. A Milne-Shaw seismograph
1764-462: The 1950s and 1960s. Green is a Tottenham Hotspur supporter. In 1987 he suggested to Irving Scholar , the Spurs chairman, that Tony Berry be appointed to the board. In 1991, he helped Terry Venables raise the last £500,000 needed to purchase shares in the club. He was also involved in the transfers of Rio Ferdinand from Leeds United and Louis Saha from Fulham to Manchester United. Green
1827-792: The Retail Industry". In May 2007, after the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in Portugal, Green donated £250,000 as a monetary reward for any useful public information. He also gave the McCanns the use of his private jet to allow them to fly to Rome for a Papal visit . In 2010, Green donated $ 465,000 for new beds at the Royal Marsden Cancer Hospital , after his wife Tina's mother died there. He also spent more than $ 150,000 for an Alexander McQueen dress at Naomi Campbell 's Fashion for Relief charity event. In
1890-479: The Selfridge experience and helped capture the public’s attention to transform customers into true shoppers. Later, when the building was undergoing restoration, the scaffolding was shrouded with a giant photograph of stars such as Sir Elton John by Sam Taylor-Wood . For Christmas 2014, the window displayed a Kate Moss -designed Paddington Bear statue—themed "Goldie Bear"—which was auctioned to raise funds for
1953-489: The US after an Arizona Pilates teacher accused him of frequently touching her inappropriately. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and COVID-19 recession , Green's Arcadia Group closed 550 stores in the UK, furloughing 14,500 of its workers in the process. Arcadia Group publicly requested taxpayer help to cover the pay of the furloughed workers. Selfridges Selfridges , also known as Selfridges & Co. ,
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2016-548: The brand by adding Moultons of Ilford , purchased from rival chain R H O Hills and renaming the store Selfridges. In 1965 the business was purchased by the Sears Group , owned by Charles Clore . Under the Sears group, branches in Ilford and Oxford opened, with the latter remaining Selfridges until 1986, when Sears rebranded it as a Lewis's store. In 1990, Sears Group split Selfridges from Lewis's and placed Lewis's in administration
2079-538: The chain, while Baugur, had a 41% shareholding. The banks Landsbanki and Barclays provided debt, taking 36% of MK One. Arev, a consulting firm, took 3%. McPherson and Thompson left the group. Baugur had planned to expand to chain to around 450 stores. In 2007, the company made losses of £17.4 million. In May 2008, a majority stake in the 170 store company was sold to Hilco , a restructuring specialist. Three weeks later in May, Hilco appointed Deloitte as administrators, to find
2142-459: The clothing retailers Topshop , Topman , Wallis , Evans , Burton , Miss Selfridge , Dorothy Perkins and Outfit . BHS was part of Arcadia from 2009 to 2015. Arcadia had more than 2,500 outlets in the UK, concessions in UK department stores such as Debenhams and Selfridges , and several hundred franchises in other countries. After high street sales fell in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic , Arcadia entered administration and ASOS acquired
2205-565: The company began negotiations to sell the business. The Glasgow site was eventually sold off in 2013 and no plans to open any future stores has been announced - as of 2023. In 2003, the chain was acquired by Canada's Galen Weston for £598 million and some of his other investments, which included Brown Thomas and Arnotts in Ireland, Holt Renfrew in Canada and de Bijenkorf in the Netherlands, became part of Selfridges Group . Weston,
2268-422: The department store into a social and cultural landmark that provided women with a public space in which they could be comfortable and legitimately indulge themselves. Emphasizing the importance of creating a welcoming environment, he placed merchandise on display so customers could examine it, and moved the highly profitable perfume counter front-and-centre on the ground floor. Either Selfridge or Marshall Field
2331-507: The design of the store were American architect Francis Swales, who worked on decorative details, and British architects R. Frank Atkinson and Thomas Smith Tait . The distinctive polychrome sculpture above the Oxford Street entrance is the work of British sculptor Gilbert Bayes . The Daily Telegraph named Selfridges in London the world's best department store in 2010. The Birmingham store , designed by architects Future Systems ,
2394-415: The entire stock of ten designer-label clothes retailers that had gone into receivership. He then had the newly bought clothes dry cleaned, put on hangers, and wrapped in polythene to make them look new, and bought a shop from which to sell them to the public. In 1988, he became chairman and Chief Executive of a quoted company called Amber Day, a discount retailer. The shares performed well, but then suffered
2457-620: The family business. After leaving boarding school at 15 with no O-levels , Green worked for a shoe importer in East London before travelling to the US, Europe and the Far East . On his return, aged 21, he set up his first business, importing jeans from the Far East to sell on to London retailers. The business was assisted with a £20,000 loan (equivalent to £216,000 in 2014) backed by his family. In 1979, Green bought up, at low prices,
2520-516: The managing director, and David Thompson, the finance director. In November 2004, the 177 store MK One chain was bought by the Icelandic group Baugur for £55 million (this included £11 million worth of debts); in February 2009, Baugur itself entered the equivalent of administration. Les Johnston became chief executive, and Andy Hall became finance director. Johnston and Hall took a 20% stake in
2583-468: The material goods sold in other stores. ITV and Masterpiece produced a series entitled Mr Selfridge , first airing on ITV beginning in January 2013 (in ten parts), and later on PBS starting on 30 March 2013 (in eight parts). ITV began airing ten additional episodes in January 2014. The fourth series began in 2016 with the first episode airing on 8 January 2016. Selfridges was also featured in
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2646-425: The momentous occasion and the store for great success. Harry Selfridge developed close relationships with the media to ensure that his store and its opening were properly publicized. The opening week ad campaign relied mainly on unpaid promotions in the form of news articles in newspapers, magazines, and journals. As time progressed, Selfridge took the more traditional form of marketing by writing daily columns under
2709-630: The pay and conditions of both overseas and UK workers by anti-sweatshop groups such as Labour Behind the Label , No Sweat and the student activist network People & Planet . Green denied allegations in The Sunday Times made during 2007 that his firm used overseas sweatshops where workers in Mauritius were paid pitiful wages. In 2010, Green was again accused of using sweatshops, this time by Channel 4 's Dispatches programme. It
2772-446: The pen name Callisthenes . Overall, however, one of the most effective marketing tools proved to be the opening week cartoons focusing on the grand event. Selfridge enlisted the help of thirty-eight of London’s top illustrators to draw hundreds of full page, half page, and quarter page advertisements for eighteen newspapers. The marketing continued on opening day itself. Touted as “London’s Greatest Store,” Selfridges immediately became
2835-642: The report of a contemporary London correspondent from the Chicago Tribune , was largely responsible for making possible the eventual widespread use of Chicago’s steel frame cage construction system in the United Kingdom: “Under the pressure of [Mr. Selfridge] and the interests allied with him, the councilors admitted the soundness of American building methods and framed a bill which will be pressed at once in parliament [ sic ] to permit these methods to be used here.” Also involved in
2898-636: The retailer. Referring to the conduct of Green, Angela Eagle , the shadow business secretary, said: "In this situation it appears this owner extracted hundreds of millions of pounds from the business and walked away to his favourite tax haven, leaving the Pension Protection Scheme to pick up the bill." Simon Walker , the Director General of the Institute of Directors , described Green's "lamentable failure of behaviour" which
2961-734: The review identifying its main finding as "the Government is failing to leverage both its credit rating and its scale". Green argued that the report gave "a fair reflection" of government waste and inefficiency in practice, for which "very poor data and process" were seen as the main causes. Cameron welcomed the report, saying "I think it's a good report, it will save a lot of money and it's important we do it." The report examined central government's procurement practice but also noted that "the whole public sector " could potentially benefit from better centralised procurement. Green and his wife Cristina Palos have two children, one of whom, Brandon,
3024-564: The same year, Green donated £100,000 to the Evening Standard 's Dispossessed Fund which aims to support London's poorest people. He was reportedly the BBC's first choice to front the UK franchise of The Apprentice ; however, at that time in 2004, he was too busy with Arcadia's attempted takeover of Marks & Spencer . Two weeks prior to the 2010 general election , Green came out in support of David Cameron , George Osborne and
3087-433: The subject of the allegations. The Telegraph said that the allegations would "reignite the #MeToo movement against the mistreatment of women, minorities and others by powerful employers. Opposition MPs, including Labour MPs Frank Field and Jess Phillips , and Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable , called for a revocation of Green's knighthood. In May 2019, Green was charged with four counts of misdemeanor assault in
3150-474: The target of activist group UK Uncut in November 2010 for alleged corporate tax avoidance. The group targeted Green specifically as a government advisor. Taveta Investments, acquired by Arcadia in 2002, is registered in the name of Green's wife. As a Monaco resident, the company faces a significantly lower tax liability than if she were a UK resident. When Green paid his family £1.2 billion in 2005, it
3213-529: The time and had works in Boston (Filenes's), New York (Gimbel's, Wanamaker's), and Philadelphia (Wanamaker's, his magnum opus ). The London store was built in phases. The first phase consisted of only the nine-and-a-half bays closest to the Duke Street corner, and is an example of one of the earliest uses of steel cage frame construction for this type of building in London. This circumstance, according to
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#17327980279903276-444: The world wide press, journals, blogs and published books. The long lasting influence that Harry Selfridge would have on shopping and department stores became immediately clear with Selfridges' opening day. The store’s opening to much fanfare on 15 March 1909 laid the foundation for the success of the entire lifestyle that Selfridge aimed to promote. Even before the unveiling of the window displays, innovative marketing techniques set up
3339-530: Was asserted that he was using factories in Britain in which workers were paid less than half the legal minimum wage . When The Guardian newspaper investigated a proposed takeover of Safeway in 2003, Green responded to queries about Arcadia's accounts by insulting and swearing at the journalists, asking them "Is this The Beano or The Guardian ?". Of The Guardian ' s financial editor, Paul Murphy , Green said: "He can't read English. Mind you, he
3402-422: Was closed. By May 2009, all MK One stores that were purchased by Internacionale had been rebranded under that firm's name. Philip Green Sir Philip Nigel Ross Green (born 15 March 1952) is a British businessman who was the chairman of the retail company Arcadia Group . He owned the high street clothing retailers Topshop , Topman , and Miss Selfridge from 2002 to 2020. In May 2023, his net worth
3465-418: Was completed on 23 August 2022. The basis of Harry Gordon Selfridge's success was his relentlessly innovative marketing, which was elaborately expressed in his Oxford Street store . Originally from America himself, Selfridge attempted to dismantle the idea that consumerism was strictly an American phenomenon. He tried to make shopping a fun adventure and a form of leisure instead of a chore, transforming
3528-488: Was deeply damaging to the reputation of business. He then added that he had moral responsibilities to the pension fund and a proper investigation was needed but not one that took years. It took months for the negotiation to be settled down; it ended with Green agreeing to a voluntary settlement of £363m into the scheme. A few days before a scheduled joint meeting of the Business and Work and Pensions Select Committees of
3591-670: Was estimated by the Sunday Times Rich List to be £910 million. Green was the chairman and chief executive of Amber Day from 1988 to 1992. In 1999, he acquired Sears plc . He bought British Home Stores (BHS) for £200 million in 2000, and subsequently spent £840 million to acquire the Arcadia Group in 2002. Arcadia became a private company and was delisted from the London Stock Exchange . He unsuccessfully sought to acquire Marks & Spencer in 1999 and 2004. At its peak, Green's Arcadia Group owned
3654-584: Was forced to place MK One into administration with Leonard Curtis . On 20 November, the 125 store chain entered administration, putting 1,400 jobs at risk. Leonard Curtis said that there had been a number of expressions of interest for the company. On 25 November, eighty stores were sold by administrators (Neil Bennett of Leonard Curtis) to Internacionale Retail . The textiles group from India , S. Kumars Nationwide , purchased Glasgow based Internacionale earlier in May 2008. The head office in Acton , west London ,
3717-576: Was housed in the basement from 1943 on, with extension to the Cabinet War Rooms about a mile away. In 1926, Selfridges set up the Selfridge Provincial Stores company, which had expanded over the years to include sixteen provincial stores, but these were sold to the John Lewis Partnership in 1940. The Liverpool -based Lewis's chain of department stores acquired the remaining Oxford Street Shop in 1951, expanding
3780-751: Was paid for by a loan taken out by Arcadia, cutting Arcadia's corporation tax as interest charges on the loan were offset against profits. In December 2014, Michelle Young accused Philip Green, Richard Caring and Simon Cowell of helping her ex-husband, businessman Scot Young , to hide assets and so avoid paying maintenance to his ex-wife and their two daughters. In February 2015, a note from HSBC bankers in Caring's files mentioned that Philip Green's wife Tina Green had been holding part of Caring's assets in cash on his behalf, prompting suspicions that Caring might have funnelled profits through Tina Green to avoid paying taxes on his assets. Arcadia has been criticised for
3843-552: Was previously in a relationship with actress Emma Watson . Green is based at a London hotel during the week, spending the weekends with his wife and their children in an apartment in Monaco. For his 50th birthday, Green flew 200 guests in a chartered Airbus A300 to a hotel in Cyprus for a three-day toga party, where Tom Jones and Rod Stewart performed. For his 55th birthday, Green flew 100 guests 8,500 miles in two private jets to
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#17327980279903906-642: Was set up on the Oxford Street store's third floor in 1932, attached to one of the building's main stanchions, where it remained unaffected by traffic or shoppers. It successfully recorded the Belgian earthquake of 11 June 1938, which was also felt in London. In 1947, it was given to the Science Museum . The huge SIGSALY scrambling apparatus, by which transatlantic conferences between American and British officials (most notably Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt ) were secured against eavesdropping,
3969-488: Was the son of Simon Green, a successful property developer and electrical goods retailer, and Alma. He has a sister, Elizabeth, five years his senior. His family moved to Hampstead Garden Suburb , a middle-class area of North London , and at the age of nine he was sent to the now-closed Jewish boarding school Carmel College in Oxfordshire . When Green was twelve, his father died of a heart attack, and he inherited
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