Why is Fortnum and Mason so expensive?

[Quackpot]

I don't understand how ten small items can cost so much money. How do they live up to such a price point? Are the tins made of gold?

I love their brown sauce, can never go back to HP now but my mother in law hated it.

The mince pies are lovely.

@AuntieMarys

The mince pies are lovely.

They are indeed and bloody huge.

If you shop on the ground floor the prices are quite hideous as that’s the tourist section, where you’re paying for the privilege of having things in an f&m tin. Go down into the food hall and there is much more, and the prices are more palatable. There are some things they do very well: they source their chocolates and Turkish delight wonderfully, and their preserves are excellent too. I would not go there to get marrons glaces unless I had absolutely no choice as their mark-up is eye-watering.

You know when you make a cake and use really good ingredients, like a sachetorte, and it costs a fortune compared to just buying a coop chocolate cake (I like coop chocolate cake), it’s like that but with marketing costs, staff, v expensive rent etc added on.

On a trip to London for my birthday a few years ago DH treated me to afternoon tea there. It was lovely and the service was impeccable. Best scones I've ever eaten. And agree lovely tea and coffee, I think they filter the water through unicorn horns or something

When I first moved to London and had very little money I saved up and bought my mum some florentines from there. She normally loves those but she didn't like the ones from there and didn't hold back from telling me. Not made that mistake again!

Reassuringly expensive.

I think in and among there are some pretty reasonable things. (I used to buy bits and bobs from the little shop at Heathrow when I was cabin crew).

Oh @AlDanvers that's a wonderful memory to have of your mum (and Fortnums)

We went just after Christmas. I don't think I've been in it in years but we're nearby and killing time. There is something about the store and the service was incredibly.
Maybe it's the link to the Queen. We felt special

Bloody love F&M. Through the various lockdowns if there was any excuse for a celebration : birthday, Mother’s Day, whatever, we would do an order of picnic type food. Love the scotch eggs, any kind of cold meat pie, chutneys, ham, cheese. All delicious.

Going back a while now but I’ve been for Sunday lunch a few times. The roast beef is amazing but one time it arrived without any roast potatoes. Obviously we complained and were eventually told that the chef refused to send them out because they were so rubbish. Kind of respected them for not sending out something they weren’t happy with and we got some free wine and desserts for the bother.

Pre kids we’d do a trip just before Christmas to buy a few gifts and spend a couple of hours in the wine bar downstairs.

It's in a big fuck off historic building in Piccadilly. That's gotta cost

I bloody love Fortnum and Mason. Whenever I’m at Heathrow T5, I always pop in to buy some holiday treats.

I’m currently in London now for a work trip and will see if I have time to go into Fortnum and Mason for a much deserved treat . Try the Pistachio & Clotted Cream biscuits — they are to die for!

I recommend the Potted Welsh Rarebit - comes in a lovely reusable pot and is delicious. Great as a novel gift.

F&M

Ooh their champagne truffles I would pay my life savings for

I send their tea and biscuits to a stateside friend every year. She loves the treat!

@Westfacing

I recommend the Potted Welsh Rarebit - comes in a lovely reusable pot and is delicious. Great as a novel gift.

F&M

Ohhh I am going to mark this thread for shopping purposes 😁

You pay for the ambience and the selection. They also do a really nice old fashioned marmalade, bitter with thick skins. That is hard to find these days.

They also have an amazing choice of coffees and teas.

If you look around, you find some things that are hard to find elsewhere and even some things that are not bad value.

For me, hampers are a triumph of form over substance, and what do you do with the hamper itself?

If you go into F&M and like their tea, you can always ask for them to weigh the tea and put it into a packet. I love a tin, but there are limits!

I used to stay around the corner for work purposes. Sadly, no more…

For me, hampers are a triumph of form over substance, and what do you do with the hamper itself?

DH gets given hampers from clients at Christmas or a Thank you gifts. We give most of the contents away, the empty hampers sell well on EBay or FB, no idea what people do with them though.

I bought DM some F&M rose biscuits as part of her Christmas present. They were expensive, £13, but the tin was very pretty and DM said the biscuits were delicious. I was rather shocked though that everytime she had one, she also gave her dog one 🙄.

It's expensive to discourage the riff raff and paupers.

If you have to umm and aah about spending £20 on a packet of biscuits, they don't want your custom.

This is an intriguing thread though. Those of you who habitually shop at F&M - do you get it delivered or how is it possible to do a weekly shop in Piccadilly, there is nowhere to park! I can imagine buying biscuits etc as a treat when I'm in London as a tourist but if you want an actual shop with milk, bread, staples, how would it be achieved?

Before DH lost his job during covid we used to just order the tea bags and leaves online and would top up throughout the year, we aren't close enough to shop there regularly. Now they are only bought on birthdays and Christmas

I assume that people shop at Fortnums in the same way that Londoners without cars shop at every other shop - they put their shopping in bags and walk home or take the bus/tube. Or they get it delivered home.

The properly wealthy just park wherever they fancy and treat parking fines as the cost of parking - I went to Piccadilly recently and there's a side road round the corner from Fortnums which had a whole line of multicoloured supercars, each one of them ticketed. Or there is parking (no doubt extortionate) at St James's Square.

@TheReluctantPhoenix I sew so one houses my fabrics, bath towels stored in another, kindling in a small one, children’s toys in another, wine in a big one etc. I just use them in place of other baskets / storage.
I’d forgotten about the marmalade, the lucifer’s is wonderful.
Me and DP both work in town, so pop in every so often rather than doing a big shop at once.