There is only one Harrods... For now...

t was with not a small degree of sadness that See All her Faces noted this week that Mohamed Al Fayad has sold Harrods for £1.5bn to the Qatari Royal Family. Al Fayed has always claimed that he loved the store so much he would never sell it, and in fact intended to be mummified when he dies and buried in a mausoleum in the roof. But it appears he is no more immune to Old Father Time than the rest of us, and at 81,  he understandably has decided at his time of life, he wishes to spend time with his children and grand-children. Good for him..

And yet...

Three reasons for my disappointment.

1. Al Fayed was hugely protective of the Harrods brand, and despite the bounty that expansion of the store estate (particularly export of the brand overseas) might have brought, he felt very strongly that the power of the brand lay in it's exclusivity, and to that end,  it should only have one store- the iconic, most recognisable shop in the world- Harrods, Brompton Rd, Knightsbridge. Qatar Holding are in fact already making plans for overseas expansion- with talk of another flagship store in Shanghai for starters. Industry insiders (Drapers) however warn that in fact the Qatari Royal family should stay true to the roots of Al Fayed's formula for success and continue to run the business 'The Al Fayed Way', rather than risk diluting the brand, its cache, timelessness, and power, by building its presence abroad. I agree- whilst additional stores will undoubtably increase revenue, this may be at the long-term expense of the brand to its future detriment.

2. Al Fayed had an obssessive attention to detail and control of the day-to-day running of the business. His love and commitment to the brand was widely credited as crucial to Harrods' success. His creativity and understanding of the brand, its customers and the importance of its peerless reputation in luxury retailing were key to its revival and long-term success. As Sue Carroll says," he transformed a crumbling edifice into a a flamboyant store which has become an oasis of colour and charm in a homogenised world", and the success of this exercise is borne out by its continued strong performance. Despite the growth of competitors, and indeed despite a painful recession Harrods were able to post a 9% sales rise to £751.7m up to Jan 2009. N.B. Yes the strong tourist trade brought about by the weak UK pound undoubtably contributed to this, but by way of comparison- Harvey Nichols sales' fell 3% during the same period (Harvey Nichols sees profits fall)

3. Al Fayed was an extremely colourful character, and whilst he did not go without controversy during his 25 year reign of the most famous department store in the world, I believe the retail landscape will certainly be more dull without him. I'm glad that he too was proud of his Egyptian roots (Harrods' Egyptian Hall and escalator were spectacularly kitsch and thus in my opinion singularly fabulous) and whilst he may have been dismissed as 'that Egyptian Grocer' by some, he was generally considered one of the more popular and charismatic men to have been refused a British passport..

See All Her Faces wishes Al Fayed well, but suspects that he will find that even though in this instance the object of his affection is an inanimate object, he will still find that 'breaking up is hard to do'....