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Original poster

Green eyed monster after being in Harrods

302 replies

Moneyjealousy · 26/09/2023 00:33

Lighthearted (I think?!)

But this weekend I've been in London with adult DD's and we somehow ended up in Harrods champagne bar where we treated ourselves to a couple of cocktails before heading back to the nearest Wetherspoons type bar 😁

I have to say in advance that I am very lucky, I have a lovely dh, great dc all our bills are paid and even though we aren't living the high life I don't have to worry about food or heating the house.

After getting off the tube at Harrods though........OMG! Where does all the money come from?! The big houses and fancy cars outside the shop then once you get in the huge selection of jewellery/bags/clothes etc that I could never dream of affording.

Who are the people that shop there? Where do they get the money for it? How can you ever afford to buy a house and drive a Porsche across the road from Harrods?

I'm back home now in my northern house that I could never afford if it was moved 300 miles south but still have a feeling of not believing how the other half must live.

Can you afford a shopping trip at Harrods? Do you look down on people like me who pop in for a cocktail and post it on Facebook to remember it by 🤣

I'm not even really jealous I don't think it's just coming from where I do seeing such a big difference in others life styles is a bit of a culture shock.

OP posts:
shockthemonkey · 26/09/2023 00:39

I went there recently as was feeling due à treat and I couldn’t have afforded a thing there but nor did I like a single thing there…

Its nothing like it used to be two decades ago, when I coveted a lot of the stuff and the prices were more reasonable (but still out of my reach)

Ohthatsabitshit · 26/09/2023 00:39

It’s not how the other half live it’s how a small minority live. There were probably homeless people just outside Harrods who’s lives you could also have wondered at.

CallumDansTransitVan · 26/09/2023 00:42

I'd look at it like any other experience. Exciting, novel, enjoyable.

As far as how the other half live. My experience is that it is the wannabe rich that really shop there and drive flash cars.

I've met several 'real' money people, and the one thing they all had in common was they drove old cars as they are just a means to an end, they will often dress in clothing with holes in jumpers or soup stains down the front. They are just like the rest of us and will enjoy a shepherds pie instead of fancy dishes most of the tme.

Whats more they for the most part are extremely nice people face to face.

Peepshowcreepshow · 26/09/2023 00:56

Surely the point of Harrods is that it is, for the vast majority of people, aspirational. There will always be some people who do their weekly shop there and furnish their homes like many of us do with Sainsbury's or IKEA. But if it were not for us plebs, they wouldn't sell the huge range of tourist merch that they do - they know it's aspirational and for an extortionate fee, you too can have a bag, some tea in a fancy tin and some jam. Gone are the days of actual lions though.

sleepwouldbenice · 26/09/2023 01:00

Haven't been for years but don't think I would be interested

Rather sit on a hill or a beach and look at the view

Or eat at one of those restaurants you stumble across which sells divine, reasonable priced food....

DreamTheMoors · 26/09/2023 01:03

I saw an ad for some really lovely handbags the other day.
But they were £1600 & above and I think paying that much is about as smart as standing still when someone says, “here - let me hit you in the head with this hammer.”

SpaceRaiders · 26/09/2023 01:05

Where do they get the money for it?

I wouldn’t go digging too deep because many will be linked to some pretty unsavoury business practices and or characters. I highly doubt you amass billionaire level wealth by being an overall good human.

AzureBlue99 · 26/09/2023 01:09

Harrods is for the overseas visitors these days. The rich Chinese, Russian, Malaysian and Arabs. Like most of central London.

Eaglemom · 26/09/2023 01:27

I was there recently too and felt like you! It’s another world altogether. In the Christmas department there was a small decoration for over £1000! It was nice enough but who the hell can buy these things?
The people who stood out to me were the many young men who looked Arabic, just dripping from head to toe in money ... pure white or cream pristine designer clothes, good looking in a privileged kind of way - perfect skin and teeth, clearly billionaires just strolling around.
Was a little out of normal life experience for us!

chappoi · 26/09/2023 01:27

SpaceRaiders · 26/09/2023 01:05

Where do they get the money for it?

I wouldn’t go digging too deep because many will be linked to some pretty unsavoury business practices and or characters. I highly doubt you amass billionaire level wealth by being an overall good human.

It would be nice to find a wealthy person without a corrupt history but I'm pretty sure your completely right. The world hasn't been built on morals

GyozaGirl · 26/09/2023 01:39

DH went to University with two guys who work in the city. They are probably the wealthiest people we personally know I remember one was earning as he delighted in telling us about 150k 25 year ago. However the super wealthy are multi millionaires and they are not that rich.

DH sister has worked with the mega wealthy as a PA, she had to sign non disclosure contracts so we don’t even know the name of one of her employers. She had guests leave loads of stuff behind on a yacht once so gave us two bottles of wine, they were worth £300 each, I suppose it’s like me leaving two cans of Stella Artois behind.

JustKen · 26/09/2023 02:02

I used to work at Knightsbridge tube station 🙂.

I am a big fan of bags so on my break I'd look at the window displays and wonder what it must be like to own one.

I can never afford one. I just used to look at them like art or museum pieces, rather than something to own.

Most Londoners never go there, unless they can afford it or live nearby. It's a tourist place. Rich foreigners are a big part of the buying clientele.

Harvey Nichols is also nearby, which is much more modern but I can't afford (or fit into) their stuff either.

Best bit of Knightsbridge is the Bunch of Grapes pub, imo. The rest of the street is ridiculously expensive and out of reach.

CosyFanTucci · 26/09/2023 02:16

It’s SW1, it’s going to be Arab, Russian money, not British. The average Londoner would feel just as excluded.

Mrsmulhern · 26/09/2023 02:24

The majority can’t afford it and that’s why Harrods is such a big name.

For the majority it’s aspirational and when the minority of people shop and buy stuff from there it’s either because they’ve saved so much to be able to, or people that have an abundance of money and shop there frequently but because it’s so prestigious and it makes the majority slightly envious is just how it works.

Its just a name at the end of thy day.

daisychain01 · 26/09/2023 02:31

Who are the people that shop there? Where do they get the money for it?

Russian oligarchs? Nice. Not.

Back in the day when I used to live in West London and went to school near Paddington, my DF went into Harrods and bought me a couple of cans of Heinz baked beans (those ones with the little sausages in) from the Food Hall, so I could have posh lunches in the 6th Form common room Grin If I remember, he said they weren't much more expensive than the supermarket, but they tasted a lot nicer.

apparently Harrods is the only store where you can buy absolutely anything from. If you want it, they can get it - even an elephant. Not sure where you'd keep it, but if money were no object, I'm sure you could buy a nice park for it to live it.

oakleaffy · 26/09/2023 03:02

Harrods used to be very different in my childhood- School uniform used to be bought from there- it wasn't naff or flashy like it is now.

Now, I call it ''Horrids''.

ohdamnitjanet · 26/09/2023 03:12

DreamTheMoors · 26/09/2023 01:03

I saw an ad for some really lovely handbags the other day.
But they were £1600 & above and I think paying that much is about as smart as standing still when someone says, “here - let me hit you in the head with this hammer.”

😆

Echobelly · 26/09/2023 03:23

Harrods just proves money can't buy taste!

MrsTerryPratchett · 26/09/2023 03:33

Echobelly · 26/09/2023 03:23

Harrods just proves money can't buy taste!

This. I still remember being in there decades ago and seeing a skirt made of hessian sacking, with painted spots. Utterly pointless, ugly and uncomfortable. About 400 quid if my memory serves (it's become more expensive every time I think about it).

The only time my life looked vaguely like I would be one of those people was when I dated a very nice barrister. Mid six figures salary, nice house in London. I dumped him for my lovely but at the time unemployed DH. Barrister was nice but dull. I would have been bored out of my tiny. My mum still sighs and tells me he bought the best flowers she ever received when he came to dinner. Grin. I assume he married a lovely woman and they shop at Liberty's and Harvey Nicks every day. Good for him, he deserves it.

If you have a happy home, you are better off than many rich people. If you're well enough, have people who care about you, no real worries. And if you can go to your sink and turn a tap on, you're better off than 2 BILLION people. If you could roll the dice and be anyone, you're much more likely to be one of the people without sanitation, running water or a home than a millionaire.

I'd still quite like to fly business class but apart from that I'm content.

Dita73 · 26/09/2023 04:06

It’s just a shop and to be honest,it’s tacky as tits.

Toddlerteaplease · 26/09/2023 04:08

@shockthemonkey I went a few months ago, not been in years. I used to love having a wander and wonder who in earth would spend £1k on a pillowcase kind of thing. But like you I found the more normal things gone and it all overtly posh and stuffy. I used to love the food hall, but there was just nothing worth buying. It seems to have lost something. The pet department was tiny and all dog related

smilesup · 26/09/2023 04:26

A lot of it is oil money. If you ever wonder why we have clung onto using oil rather than properly embracing green energy Harrods customers are a good starter for 10.

GCAcademic · 26/09/2023 04:41

Harrods used to be the sole supplier of my secondary school uniform. I remember it costing my parents £300 to get me kitted out when I started that school in the 1980s. It was a state school!

Willa6 · 26/09/2023 04:45

Hey OP. For some balance for you, I’m walking distance from Harrods (though by no means opposite!), a high earner, also married to someone who earns a six-figure salary without the big bonus on top but we still rent because we are yet to find a nice house around (not even in!) London with our budget. We dream of owning our own home so we are slightly envious of you, actually. 😁 So keep counting your blessings, as do we every day. I also dream of doing nice things like having cocktails anywhere, let alone Harrods, with my adult children one day.

Honestly, so many of the properties in our area are in permanent darkness, if not split into still extortionate flats, as they’re owned by wealthy investors who are mostly from overseas. It’s quite sad really - these beautiful homes just sitting there, gathering dust but increasing in value! 😂

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