Harrods Group (Holding) Limited, doing business as the Harrods Group, is a British holding company that owns the Harrods luxury department store in Knightsbridge, London, England. The original Harrods store was founded in 1849 by Charles Henry Harrod, and the first holding company, Harrod's Stores Limited, was formed and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1889. It was acquired by and merged into the House of Fraser in 1959, which itself was acquired by the Fayed brothers and became a privately held company in 1985. When the House of Fraser was relisted on the stock exchange, the Harrods business was split off to remain privately held in 1994. The present-day Harrods Group was established by the Fayed brothers in 2006. It was sold to the Qatar Investment Authority, the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar, in 2010.
The Harrods Group is headquartered in Hammersmith, London. Beyond the flagship department store, it has operated Harrods-branded specialty shops in the United Kingdom, airports, and cruise ships. It has also applied the brand name to non-retail enterprises including Harrods Estates and Harrods Aviation.
History
Harrods opened its first and only foreign branch in