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.

I used to take DD to Harrods in half-terms for a cheap fun day out. The toy department and children's department used to have entertainers and free glitter tattoos, balloon animals and sometimes people doing craft activities.

Harvey Nicks sometimes did the same, and Fortnum's used to have activities that you could pay for (about £10-15 iirc) like bee-keeping talks on the roof.

Luckily she was the kind of kid who was quite happy just to look at the uber expensive toys and be excited over the scented pencil in my budget!

Between those and the freebie activities at the V&A it saved me loads of money in the holidays!

Agreed, selfridges is way less up it’s own arse

I like a visit to Harrods. Once in a blue moon I can afford an expensive handbag but I can always afford a cake out the food hall for back in my hotel lol

Why, out of curiosity?

I don't have an expensive handbag - I'm not really a handbag person - but the names that come to mind for a £1.6k handbag have reputations for both being hardwearing and timeless; and for being able to be sold on for pretty hefty amounts too... Add in that presumably the people buying them get some joy out of owning them, and presumably insure them, and I'm not sure I can see how it's not a smart decision.

Technically we could afford a Harrods shopping spree, but I treat it as a tourist attraction rather than a real department store.

I like to wander, browse and people watch, have a glass of fizz, maybe buy some foodie treats from the food hall and if it's Christmas I might buy a decoration for the tree.

I also do the same in Liberty, but I'm more likely to buy other items from there too.

It's Russians and certain Middle Eastern people.

My aunt lives in a council estate that is walking distance from Harrods and Harrods is her local shop - she like a lot of the locals shop there in the evenings when the food is reduced. According to her the veg lasts longer than M&S and Waitrose and the meat is impeccable quality. The assistants will even help her carry her shopping home or hire a (free) taxi for them as they’re regulars - I suspect that’s the reason why the locals use it.

Exactly this! 30 years ago as a grad in my first job, I had my (first ever) make up done at the Clinique counter in Harrods. I was working nearby and needed to look smart. I often popped in to get clothes or houseware or shoes. They used to have great sales. I once cycled home across central London in sweaty gym kit (I'd been doing British Military Fitness in Hyde Park before going to the Harrods shoe sale) balancing 3 Harrods carrier bags with shoe boxes on my handlebars. 😆I still use my favourite (sadly discontinued) Missoni plates that I bought half price in the Harrods sale. As a Londoner, it used to be somewhere you'd pop into for a browse and a treat. For years I bought most of my underwear from there, and my jeans. Service was always amazing.

However, since the Qataris took over it has changed completely. No more sales bargains. Instead it's just a temple to super-rich bling and tourists. I popped in briefly just before Christmas as I was staying nearby and it was hell on earth. Downstairs was wall to wall tourists just staring and milling. I got out as quickly as I could.

I think it’s time to add to the MN bingo card that truly wealthy people never display their wealth and always wear rags and drive beaten up old estates

Embezzlement from developing countries seems to be a popular option

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55389134

There are quite a few nasty comments about the clientele in Harrods. The idea that most of them are involved in drugs and other dodgy things. It smacks of jealousy imho.
Whether we like it or not, some people have a lot of money through foresight , opportunity, luck or whatever.

You’ve been beaten to it! There’s already been a post to that effect.

Yep. And damn hard work and sacrifice too.

You are correct in your assertion that the British aristocrats are as flashy as the rest of them.
I always find it amusing when posters wax lyrical about ‘old’ money being more classy, wearing wellingtons with holes and the rest of those outdated stereotypes.
The truth is that rich people with disposable income spend a lot of money irrespective of their backgrounds.
They may not necessarily go to Harrods, but best believe that they spend obscene amounts of money on clothes, bags but they frequent other establishments

Hard work and sacrifice very rarely results in the kind of wealth on display in establishments like Harrods.

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.
Criminal activity, money laundering and ripping off ordinary people.

Not jealous, but am resentful of organised crime, money launderers, Russian kleptocrats and other corrupt bastards facilitated by this government, using the UK and especially London as a free-for-all playground because they know almost all of our top brass are at it too.

That's not jealousy, it's a desire for a more civilised and less corrupt UK (mainly London actually).

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 If I remember, he said they weren't much more expensive than the supermarket, but they tasted a lot nicer.

They actually wouldn't taste any different. I used to work for the food, buyer for Fortnum and Mason, and I know that usually things like baked beans are just from Heinz with a different label. It's the same with the jam and marmalade. Obviously some things are from small suppliers, but the baked beans wouldn't be. It wouldn't be worthwhile for Heinz to specially make such a small quantity of baked beans.

I liked it in the 90s but went a few years ago and found it really vulgar. I wasn’t jealous, I hated it. A man buying his 5 year old a £3k handbag - I don’t want those values or that for my dc.

When we went in last we bought a packet of Pokémon cards. I’d imagine that’s the cheapest thing they sell 😂 Simon Cowell was also in the toy section with his son, no doubt faring much better than our two dc!

As soon as I hit ‘Post’ on that comment I reflected on the proportion of their most loyal clientele who would fall under that category and was equally cynical! 😂

I have a friend who used to work there and we loved hearing the story about his experiences with different celebrities. Simon Cowell was once of the nicest and most polite to staff, according to him.

Ahhh OP, I went in for the first time last year and was blown away by how so
many customers were just dripping with money! I felt a bit flat about my life for a short time after I'll be honest.

But yes, agree it's another world and actually when you think of how that wealth has been amassed it's not all through good means.

On the other hand we live close to Birmingham and go for an over night stay every year and one thing I love to do is mooch about Harvey Nicks. Luxury products I'll never afford but thes staff are wonderful. So warm and friendly (and please Brum MNers I mean this with affection that I'm sure your accent helps, it's such a lovely one!) one chap even slant ages looking in the stock room for some amazingly reduced adidas gazelles for me, he was determined I'd go home with them!

I always get myself a little more affordable treat from the cosmetic department then off I trot to their lovely bar for a few cocktails. Feels so special but the lovely staff make me feel like I belong there as much as any other customer.

My super rich friend does not have a beaten up old car I should add, her lawn mower cost more than my car for instance. And i benefit from her old hand me down cashmeres which don’t have holes in but are clearly too worn out for the likes of the upper class.

You would just never find her in harrods. John Lewis, Anthropologie, Cauderlie, or milling around Covent Garden, or independent online shops. She has a local butcher who delivers, if something breaks in her house it’s replaced that day, the kids wear M&S everything except shoes which are some random shoe maker in Kensington. Her hair is pink but cost £500 and took 6 hours, where as mine is pink and from Superdrug.

she does have a wax jacket though. Hahahaha

On a total tangent but the last few times I've been to London I'm pleasantly amazed at actually, how reasonable the price is for a lovely bowl of home made pasta (Padella and Lina Stores, specifically) compared to a crappy one of dried stuff in a chain restaurant in the Midlands