Selfridges As Seen Through Postcards

As an introduction to the world of retail design, my book Contemporary Retail Design includes a brief history. Naturally the department store plays a significant role in that story and I believe that it will continue to find a place in the future retail landscape. The department store warrants a book in its own right and to that end I would recommend Jan Whitaker’s lavishly illustrated The Department Store, Thames & Hudson 2011. During my own research I started collecting postcards depicting department stores, shopping streets and malls – although store specific cards seem less common. Sadly, there was only room in my book for a couple of examples so I thought I share here this sequence of cards showing the development of Selfridges in London’s Oxford Street.

The first example is postmarked June 1st 1909 and as is typical of these postcards, was published by Selfridges for their customers to write and send (for the price of a ha’penny stamp in 1909). This card would have been sent only a few weeks after the store first opened and the card shows the first phase only of Gordon Selfridge’s masterplan – the eastern end at the corner of Duke Street. We imagine Grace, the sender of the card having made the trip to see London’s newest attraction but other than mentioning that she was enjoying lunch in the store, sadly reveals no other details of her trip.

The back of this 1921 postcard proclaims Written in the Writing Room Selfridge’s, whilst the front shows the store firmly entrenched as ‘One of London’s Chief Attractions’ to be visited alongside the Tower of London or Westminster Abbey. Given that the next phase of the store’s development was underway by this time, the view of the store depicted was by then slightly dated. Amy, our correspondent notes that she had deposited her bags at Paddington Station nearby and with time to kill was off to see the store’s ‘tape machine’ which I am guessing means a ticker tape relaying the news of the day. According to the George V stamp, the postage cost had doubled to one penny!

Sadly this card is unwritten, never having been sent. However, it shows the full Oxford Street façade and the back of the postcard proudly notes this to be 515 feet long. The card’s lengthy description suggests that the image must be an artist’s impression of what will be achieved when the final phase is complete – the central entrance on Oxford Street. This would date the card sometime after 1922 but before 1928 when the classical portion was completed. More interestingly the card includes enticing images of what was on offer in store including, a Travel Bureau, The Hanging Gardens of London and what appears to be a huge array of foreign newspapers in the International News Section.

This postcard from 1962 is in colour although this example is clearly a hand-coloured monochrome image. This card was issued by the store to a Mrs Granville of NW3 in acknowledgement of her order and is franked at twopence ha’penny. Whilst Selfridges today is closely associated with the yellow of Pantone 109, this was not always the case and customers visiting in the 1960s would have known green as the store’s colour of choice – not unlike another famous London department store. The huge awnings that cover the entire Oxford Street pavement are shown here in green and white candy stripe. For anyone complaining about today’s Oxford Street congestion and the ‘red wall’ of buses, this seems to have already been a problem in the early 60s if the postcard is anything to go by.

The final card of this series shows the store in full colour from the Orchard Street corner and appears to date from the 1970s. The red buses are still prevalent but Routemasters have replaced AEC Regents and the awnings on Oxford Street have now vanished.

I continue to look out for interesting retail-related postcards and have found many interesting examples at flea markets, in books shops and on-line. As can be seen in the above examples though, they give a much greater insight into the life and times of the store when they have been written on and posted by customers.

As well as notes on the store’s history, a case study on the design of Selfridges Women’s Shoe Galleries is included in the book Contemporary Retail Design - A Store Planner's Handbook published on 24th May 2021.

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