Grape Basket

Harry Selfridge’s father owned a general store in Michigan. When Harry was a toddler his father enlisted in the Union army. After the Civil War his father abandoned his mother, leaving her to raise three boys alone. Harry worked from stock boy to junior partner with Marshall Field. Harry’s credited with, “The customer is always right” and “Only X shopping days until Christmas.” He married a woman from a prominent family and fathered five children. Most of his married life he lived with his wife, his mother and stepmother. On a trip to Europe with his wife, he noticed London shoppers had nothing to match Paris, New York or Chicago. In 1909 he opened Selfridges, a department store that promoted shopping as a pleasure rather than a necessity. After the women in his life passed on, Harry squandered his fortune on riotous living and died in obscurity, which may mean they were the real brains in his outfit.