Harrods

Harrods is the famous luxury department store in Knightsbridge, London, and a symbol of British retail. It sells luxury fashion, accessories, beauty, home goods and gifts in one large store and through its website.

Range

• Designer and luxury brands in fashion, jewellery, beauty and home
• An online shop at harrods.com next to the Knightsbridge store

Ownership

This is the reason for the non-European parent flag. According to the governance page of Harrods itself, the group is wholly owned by the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), which acquired it in May 2010. The seller was the Egyptian-born businessman Mohamed Al Fayed, and BBC and Reuters reported a price of about 1.5 billion pounds. QIA is the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar.

Good to know

The store and the management are in London, so Harrods is a British business with Gulf capital. Anyone who prefers a department store with a European owner will find John Lewis, Galeries Lafayette, El Corte Inglés or Manor in this category.