Green eyed monster after being in Harrods

[Moneyjealousy]

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.

Now it's the Knightsbridge expat crowd; Oil money, Russians, Arabs.
Londoners don't go there much as it's a bit of a joke. Even the kids' toy section is a rip off! If you want posh clothes, there are much better places; if you want perfume or makeup, other stores are more fun. The food hall is still good I think but not been in years.
Royal Warrant was removed several years ago after Mohammed al Fayed made it a shrine to Diana and Dodi, since then it's definitely lost a bit of the old-fashioned charm it once had.

I bought my coffee there for years! Their signature blend is still the best coffee I have ever had. Sadly I had to quit caffeine so I didn’t have an excuse for regular visits anymore. I loved walking through their handbag section and spraying myself with madly expensive perfumes. I always used to buy lunch or dinner from the food hall counters. It’s actually not that much more expensive than a regular supermarket. I took my daughters to lunch at the Prada cafe over the summer as a treat. And I think that’s what Harrods is … a treat.

I agree, we went to London recently and wondered upon a particularly wealthy bit. It all made me feel a bit icky tbh, the exact types you’d imagine in flash suits/dresses pondering in tiny shops looking at hand bags on their arm in the mirror. It just all seemed a bit… shallow and unsavoury when you see the homeless 10ft down the road. I don’t THINK I’m jealous 🤣 I think if I lived that life from birth it would be normal but to start living it now I would always feel like a bit of a dick!

You’re talking about asset rich, cash poor people. The people with ‘old’ money are the ones who may live in a castle for example, have a large stately home/s and land, but not much money, hence living very frugal. The new money is where people like to and can afford to shop at Harrods and the like. These are the top 1%. Yes you do get the wannabe type, but they are not in the same bracket as the 1%, these people are investment bankers, people who own their business and are very rich. There are plenty of Russians and and people from the far east in London.

Jarstastic Completely agree. In 1977 I bought a long dress there for a special occasion for under £30 because my local shop, in the suburbs, didn’t have the colour in stock.

Everyone can afford bits from Harrods. I used to get a Christmas decoration every year from there and I built them up over the years and now have the most beautiful set of decorations for my tree. Have bought stuff from the food hall too. Most people can’t afford clothes from there or furniture, but most of the people who shop there are rich tourists anyway. People who want the luxury brands of clothes they have there are more likely to go to the individual shops, or Harvey Nichols.

It was the opening of the New England Ice Cream Parlour ( Double hot chocolate sauce sundaes!! ) that first lured me in when I lived around the corner in South Kensington in the 70's.... Harrods then was a treat to linger over and enjoy.

The food hall, cosmetics counters and household departments were fabulous places which sold exotics and international items unavailable elsewhere in the U.K.

But that was 50 years ago and like the rest of the world it has changed. I would not go there now . My last visit to show my children was 35 years ago and it was so different from my memories and devoid of charm. I guess that shows how I changed too , having a family and a home to pay for does concentrate the mind.

As pp's have said , Liberty and Fenwicks seem to maintain some individuality but even Fortnums is pandering to 'Instagrammers'. Money and Brands seem to matter more than people .

I have never been rich but did shop at Harrods very occasionally ; the Urban Retreat on the 4th floor was fun and the January sales were worth the queue; I've had a few great bargains, but now - it's all just overpriced flash and tourist tat , rather sad.

I was there in the 80s with a relative visiting the UK, not at all impressed.

I was in the City in the 1990s and 2000s and I lived bang in Zone 1, Kensington, Earls Court, Pimlico, Angel, etc.

Days were hard work, evenings were to socialise, we were all young professionals.

We knew none of us would ever be poor but in all likelihood, none of us would ever have £100m plus and certainly no thoughts of billionaire status.

I guess most of us are the same now. House wealth from property price rises over 20 years and some form of pension for later with decent incomes now.

I don't know anyone buying £10k handbags, though I'm not sure I know anyone who couldn't buy one if they so chose.

When my DD was tiny I always made a big thing about a first class Mum and daughter trip to London as DS has SEN and I wanted her to feel equally treasured. So, Hamleys, a show, visit to Santa etc. One year we went to Santa in Harrods. We got there - DD was small for her 4 years and dressed in M&S red coat with black velvet collar, matching hat and bag, patent shoes. When we arrived at the grotto at 4pm we were told we were too late. As we sadly walked away, one of the "elves" ran back after us to usher us in. Inside it was magical! a long winding queue but entertained by the elves juggling and dancing and given bottles of water and lollipops and Christmas music. When we got to see (one of the many I am sure) Santa the gent was obviously a lovey and asked if we would like a photo - quick as a flash I whipped out my camera and took a few snaps. He ho ho hoed that we weren't meant to do that - but Meerrry Christmas, Ho ho ho. Then I realised it was "free" as you were expected to buy a photo at the end, which we didn't need to. Bargain!!
My DD still says the only real Santa was at Chatsworth House as obviously he would want to spend a few days with the late Duchess...
Last year we popped int Harrods to see the Dior Gingerbread cafe, which was truly stunning. I still think Harrods have the best Christmas window displays, only seconded by Fortnums, which I far prefer as a shop. Harrods is useful if you need something your cannot get elswhere. My DH has bought a Lalique fish to celebrate each birth, our wedding and our 25th anniversary. Not terribly expensive, but very beautful and such a nice sentiment. Harrods stocks the full range.
The other funny thing about the Christmas trips with DD was when she was a little older and I suggested a trip somewhere and going first class as a treat. As her only train journeys had been treats she had never gone standard class.... A far cry from her poor mother who used to get either the bus or coach to London

When DH worked in London in the 1990s we used to go to the tail end of the Harrods sale, when the leftovers were reduced to rock bottom prices. I still use the 49p pillowcases, the £15 light fittings...

The staff I’ve encountered are nice. I remember taking my DS there when he was about 6. He was fascinated by an art installation which was a weight hanging down into sand and it swung in ever decreasing circles marking the circles in the sand. He played with it for well over 20 minutes. My DS asked the staff member how much it was. He replied ‘It’s £40,000 sir. Shall I order you two?’ We laughed and I then got chatting to this staff member who told me about a person who’d bought a watch for £500K, left it there to pick up later but never went back. The person had forgotten about it!!!! Forgotten he’d spent half a mill! It’s mind blowing.

Back in the day - 1980s - i used to spend a fair bit of time doing my job visiting Knightsbridge Crown Court. I was young and new to working (not living) in London. Popping into Harrods was a lovely experience and I could afford, even on a junior solicitor's clerk's salary, odd treats and gifts. Occasionally I spotted models including Jerry Hall once.
I would never dream of going there now. It holds everything I despise about consumerism and excess.
It's just, I guess, my values have changed. My joy comes now from living quietly in the country and my biggest shopping thrill is something like a beautiful vintage wooden box with history picked up at a car boot sale.
I can't imagine a scenario where I would ever wish to visit Harrods again.

i have very happy memories of Harrods, ours all had their first haircut there (you got a certificate with a lock attached) and we saw Father Christmas every year. The toy department used to be amazing. We bought our bed and tv there and used to regularly shop in the Food Hall.

It’s changed beyond belief and I do find it sad that the enormous and quite old fashioned department store where you could buy absolutely anything no longer exists.

There's no fuss about it - not since the early 1980s.

If you want a beautiful, English - super London - department store, then go to Liberty. That's always been the case, even in the 80s.

Ooh you should have a walk through Mayfair for a laugh - there's literally a luxury yacht shop, antique watches, Sotheby's etc. And rental flats that cost about 10 grand a month. It's another world compared to the part of London I lived in, and that's still not exactly cheap for what you get!

I went into Harrods when I was on a trip to London many years ago. In the basement was quite an ordinary area selling general beauty products, not the luxury stuff upstairs. There was an air of excitement among the staff and one of them told me Princess Diane had just been in buying a bottle of shampoo. Don’t know why I'm telling you this OP, except I bet you could have afforded one of those.

I’m surprised that Harrods is still so big. I would have thought more of it would have been converted into luxury flats by now.

Ok, so it's not Aldi, but I've never found Harrod's to be expensive, it just sells luxury brands. My Mum bought my school shoes there once in a sale and I did the same for mine - half price Startrite is half price! And their makeup counters are the same price as anywhere else. I got a Harrod's Card which got me discounts so it was cheaper for me to shop there.

Yes, Knightsbridge is full of people with more money than sense, but don't feel you need to match up to that.

Harrods used to be more like John Lewis - a big shop that sold a huge range of stock with very well trained and informed staff. However the retail market has changed hugely since the seventies/eighties/nineties.

Agree with every word. Never thought of it like that,but it's true.

This, exactly this with bells on.

My MIL is old money. Sadly (for her) that also means inheritance runs down the male side of the family 😂.

I remember my (now) DH telling me the family and I was terrified to meet her, literally terrified. My family are working class made good thanks to serious hard work throughout the last three generations.

I met her and she was the most lovely, down to earth person possible who puts everyone before herself. She says ‘fuck’ far more than I do and in a far posher accent, but she’s an awesome woman who I am terribly grateful to has as a MIL and I just love to hear all her stories of when she was young/teens/early twenties all the celebs she’s met and travels… but life certainly isn’t the same now!

She’s not my DH biological mum, but she is all he has ever known as his mum so she is, if that makes sense… but DH’s dad is an ex lorry driver with tattoos to the nines and so down to earth that I should have known she would be lovely too. I love them both very much, but they are total opposites that work together well. They live in a very average house and drive an older car, they aren’t fussed by anything having names and labels and are quite happy with their lot TBH, which is mostly gardening and whatever wildlife she can attract to the garden to feed up and look after… I tell her she’s fostering a petting zoo!!!!

Anyway, she would tell you that Harrods isn’t what it once was and that nowadays it’s ‘nouveau riche’, so new money who want to flaunt it!

DH and I go to London a few times a year and we love going in for a wander, but, like said above, it’s a bit of fun, aspirational and we get nanwich and the odd small thing to get a Harrods bag and have a jolly good giggle!

I live in central london and the wealth gap is astonishing! But there’s always people with more ..and always people with less. The vast amounts spent are good for the economy l guess ?

It’s not how the other half live at all. Most Londoners can’t afford to shop in Harrods. It’s for the worlds rich plus tourists for a treat.

I’ve been there and spent about a tenner on a box of chocolates for a gift. It’s not just £2k handbags.

Oh this 'old money = good, new money = bad shtick' again. Fucks me right off. It is snobbery pure and simple and sneers at people with notions.

I have friends in both circles. And the stately homes crew can be utter cunts too. Off to lunch today with an genuine artisto to get the Goss of his parents disgusting behaviour at a birthday reunion last month. His father is genuinely evil and a revolting snob. My friend is however a dream.

It is thinly disguised, cap doffing and sneering at the others who have swerved out of their lane'. Stay poor, people and don't enjoy your OWN money