Harvey Nichols

History

In 1831 Benjamin Harvey opened a linen shop in a terraced house on the corner of Knightsbridge and Sloane Street in London.

In 1835 the shop expanded to number 8 next door, and would continue to expand into successive properties over the following years. In 1841 Benjamin employed James Nichols from Oxfordshire. In 1845 Nichols was promoted to management and in 1848 he married Harvey’s niece, Anne Beale.

Benjamin Harvey died in 1850, leaving the business in the care of his wife Anne, who went into partnership with James Nichols to form Harvey Nichols & Co.

In 1889, the existing space was demolished to make way for a new department store. The building was designed by C Q Stephens and built in stages between 1889 and 1894. In 1904 the location underwent a change of address to become 109-125 Knightsbridge. In 1920 Harvey Nichols was purchased by Debenhams.

In 1975 a restaurant called Harvey’s opened on the fifth floor.

In 1985 Debenhams including Harvey Nichols was acquired by the Burton Group. In 1991, Dickson Poon of Dickson Concepts acquired Harvey Nichols from the Burton Group. Harvey Nichols was refurbished. A new restaurant, café, bar and food market, designed by architects Wickham & Associates, opened on the fifth floor in 1992, with a direct access lift which allowed for later opening hours after the main store closed. Ten years later in 2002 the restaurant interior was replaced by a new design by Lipschutz Davison.

On 17 February 2014 Stacey Cartwright joined Harvey Nichols as Chief Executive Officer of the Harvey Nichols Group of Companies. She replaced Joseph Wan, who held the position of CEO for 21 years and who retired at the end of March 2014.

Locations

In the United Kingdom, Harvey Nichols has stores in London, Leeds, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol and a Beauty Bazaar at Harvey Nichols' store in Liverpool. It has a store in Al-Faysaliyah Tower in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a store at Dundrum Town Centre, Dublin in Ireland and two stores (The Landmark and Pacific Place) and a Beauty Bazaar (The One) in Hong Kong. It opened a store in Istanbul's Kanyon Shopping Mall on 13 October 2006. In February 2006, it opened a store in Dubai, designed by architecture firm Callison in the Mall of the Emirates. The Dubai store is operated by Al Tayer Insignia,(Al Tayer group LLC) the luxury retail arm of Al Tayer Group. A store in the Grand Indonesia mall in Jakarta, Indonesia was operated by the Indonesian retail conglomerate Mitra Adiperkasa (MAP) from October 2008, but closed due to poor performance in September 2010. On 25 January 2009 a new store opening was announced for Kuwait which opened in 2012. Harvey Nichols opened a 22,000 square foot store in Manesty's Lane in the Liverpool One shopping area in 2012.

The London flagship store is located in Knightsbridge, a few streets from rival Harrods. In addition to its fashion retailing business, Harvey Nichols redeveloped the top floor of its London flagship store to create a restaurant, bar, café, wine shop, and foodmarket. A similar concept operates from the top floors of all Harvey Nichols full-size stores. In 1996 Harvey Nichols launched its first stand-alone restaurant in London, the OXO Tower Restaurant, Bar, and Brasserie, viewing the River Thames. OXO and three of the in-store restaurants were designed by London-based architects Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands.

In May 2013, Harvey Nichols announced they were to double the size of the Birmingham store located in The Mailbox complex. The store will cover 45,000 square feet, double the size of the existing store. In 2015, Harvey Nichols opened a store in Baku, Azerbaijan. After four months, Harvey Nichols terminated its licence agreement with the Baku store, which now trades under a different name.

Controversy

Soon after opening a new store in Edinburgh in 2002, the managers faced an official complaint after staff tried to stop a homeless man selling the Big Issue magazine outside.

In mid-2003 objections were made to a Harvey Nichols magazine advertisement that appeared in Vogue, ELLE and Harpers & Queen and on a poster. The complainants objected that the advertisement was irresponsible, because it showed unsafe driving and was offensive to people who had been, or who knew people who had been involved in road accidents.

In September 2013, Harvey Nichols resumed the sale of fur in its United Kingdom stores following a decade-long embargo. The decision attracted much criticism, focusing on the way animals were treated. The company denied allegations of cruelty and insisted its furs are ethically sourced from reputable suppliers.