Harrods

This place used to be amazing in the 80s and 90s.
I visited today for the first time in years and found the new owners have sadly ruined it.
The toy department was a wonder as a kid, with every toy under the sun, thick carpets and wonderful staff. What is there now is like a cheap IKEA, with more space devoted to cheap stud walls than display space. By creating their new coloured 'sections' they have conveniently been able to slash the shop floor by about 50%, while making it impossible to just wander around. Instead you have to jostle past people all trying to get up and down one narrow central corridor again made of wobbling, peeling stud walls. The toy selection is less than you'll find in argos (for double the price) and the floors are now straight out of Tesco.
Art and antiques departments gone, watch hall gone and replaced by a few small boutiques that made me think I'd accidentally wandered into the staff back offices by mistake. The high end suppliers like de beers and boodles are still there but again, there is more space devoted to using up space than stock. Sadly it appears the whole place is now a smoke and mirrors affair to distract you from the fact that about fifty square feet of shop floor only has 4 pairs of trainers in it. 50k trainers i grant you, but serious stock issues non the less.
If you knew the old place and loved it you'll hate it. It seems to be papering over serious running cost issues by ditching 3/4 of what it used to sell and combining it with truly nasty interior design solutions that just dont fit the ambience.
Really sad really

Way too many people trying to out-do each other and give off the appearance of money. Everyone tries to just show off and make people think they’re influential. Waste of time. Customer service is extremely poor, they take one look at you, decide you aren’t worth their time and dismiss you. Some of the things you could buy in any Tesco are priced ridiculously, to the point of hysteria. The surrounding shops and restaurants are much of the same pretentious behaviour, with people getting out of expensive cars and wearing designer clothes. Not to mention that the amount of people smoking around there would contribute to at least half of the planet’s global warming. Wouldn’t recommend at all, rather, I wouldn’t waste my time.

A couple weeks ago I planned to place an order comprised of three bottles of Thomas Kosmala "Apres l'Amour" (466 euros aprox. shipping costs included). I mistakenly placed it wrong (three bottles of "Tonic Vert", same brand, same cost) and IMMEDIATELY emailed their customer service to gently ask for the cancellation. They never responded and, the next day, when I called (25 minutes of waiting), they told me it was impossible to cancel it but also told me to be sure that I'd be able to ship it back for free. Now I find myself with three non-returnable bottles worth 466 euros and still waiting for the remaining three that I did really want to buy. Please, save yourself the bad taste They lack of efficiency, empathy, effectiveness and proactivity when it comes to deal with their customer base. Utterly disappointing.

If you visiting London first time , this store should be on your bucket list
Almost a historical building with modern twist up
All the designer labels , watches , jewelry , clothing , bags , shoes , perfumes brands
You name it and they have
Sure for rich and famous and tourist alike
Food hall has some speciality stores
Laduree’ from France is my favorite spot in Harrods . Macarons and pastries to die for .
High tea starts at £48 per person
£10 for 4 macarons
Next to Knightsbridge station .
Crowded most of the time . At least half a day .

From the outside this is possibly one of London's most beautiful and imposing icons, glittering in thousands of golden light bulbs at night it's certainly got plenty of landmark kudos. In fact, it's pretty stunning.

But once inside this is where its Victorian glamour comes to an end, it's a gaudy Disneyland without the fun of the theme park. It's not so much a British institution as an International playground for Arab and Chinese visitors spending ££££, and if you don't fall in to that category you'll feel severely brushed aside.

Visit for: The exterior, photographs of the red buses and black cabs rushing past this monolithic landmark. Visit at night to see the bulbs illuminate the building.

Don't stay for: The shopping experience, clientele and gaudy interior.

Why not try: Fortnum and Mason or Liberty London for a real British shopping experience

If there was less than one star, It would be my grade. My boyfriend bought for my birthday a Gucci marmot animal studs bag some weeks ago, order number 64B8CB/HRW113701846, that was the only luxury bag I ever wanted in my entire life. Just because there are butterfly’s on it. The item arrived and he gave me on may 31, witch I have completed 30 years old, a very special date for me. When I opened the box, they sent me a Gucci bag cheaper and in a plain material, witch i would never choose for 800 pounds! I completely hate it! So we started a big journey with the costumer service, made many phone calls starting 5 days ago, and sent three emails to the customer service that has NEVER answered. By the phone, harrods gave the only one solution of returning the wrong purse and they MAYBE can give my money back. The fact is, the purse I wanted is sold out in everywhere, including in the Harrods website. It was a rare item, special edition. And the only thing they say is literally “I’m sorry”! I don’t want my money back, I want the purse I always dreamt or another one that I can choose from the website! But they literally are ignoring me! This is the most sad experience I’ve ever had! unreachable customer service, terrible store! Very sad about everything. I have pictures and I sent it to them, for what? Nothing. No words for this disgusting service!

Harrods used to feel like 'a bit of history' every single time I used to come here but not anymore during this last visit, some 72 hours ago. Everything is under renovation, although beautifully masked by fake halls and on top of that you cannot hear any noise, which I found interesting.

The renovation will be lasting 4 years and they got rid of many brands with the most expensive remaining only and even in the food hall on the ground floor is so expensive, probably because the new Qatari royal family want to make a huge profit out of it.

As usual we also stopped to get La Duree macarrons and my favourite chocolates at Neuhaus, the Manon Cafe - what a pity the sales assistant was so rude and despite being no other customer around, he kept looking for women from his background, no wonder that he gave other type of chocolates. As I opened the back and realised his mistake I went back and he continued to be rude to me with the manner of speech and attitude - it really puts you off from shopping there.

Harrods used to be a special place, not anymore: nowadays is dedicated to over expensive, profitable consumerism - and you still can get the same items somewhere else so much lower priced.

I have received a Cartier love bracelet as a gift from my husband in late February which he purchased from Harrods online due to the lockdown. However I had a hand injury (broker wrist) that resulted in me wearing plaster cast from late January till late May not allowing me to try the bracelet on. Only when I tried it on early June when I realised that the wrong size was ordered. (Size 16 instead of size 17).
I returned the bracelet to Harrods expecting that they will take into account the exceptional circumstances of lockdown and personal injury. To my big disappointment, Harrods informed us that Cartier refuses to exchange the bracelet claiming that it got scratched despite the fact that I have never used it. I am then assuming that any scratches in the bracelet might have been either when the bracelet was delivered or when it was checked by Cartier/Harrods Customer service. This is a high value item costing more than 10000£, however Cartier and Harrods are both careless about their loyal customers.

This store is interesting in that it has one of the most robust collections of sections and departments of any store I've been in. The only stores that compare are the largest department stores in Japan.
This store has been extremely crowded each of the five or so times I've been in it. If you do not like huge, close crowds you will not enjoy a trip here.
Give all there is to do in London, this place should be further down the list unless, of course, shopping is super important to you. :)

This is an AMAZING and Beautiful store with a real History dating back to the 1800's! We were fortunate enough to be able to walk to Harrods from our hotel ( the Rembrandt) located in Knights bridge and we really enjoyed looking at this high end retail business. With over 20 different places to eat hereYou can have just about anything or bag it up and take it home. The tea, coffee, bar is huge and a great place to rest in between your shopping spree. The displays are beautiful and when we visited they had a Racing Ferrari on display at the entrance. They have a department that is exclusive for souvenirs and this is where we picked up most of our purchases. The original owner Harrod fancied West Highland Terriers. He has many items for sale in the souvenir section with the a Westie picture on them like mugs, shirts stuffed dogs, magnets etc. Since we have a Westie this was right up our alley and we had fun buying various Westie items. They also have fresh markets of Fruits Meats and fish and a phenomenal Bakery! You will enjoy 7 stories of this wonderful department store even if you can't afford 95% of it :)