Selfridges

1. Harry Gordon Selfridge founded the store named after him in London's Oxford Street, in March 1909 after he moved to England, a time when there was a gap in the market for a new department store.

2. Selfridge was born in 1857 in Wisconsin and brought up by his mother. The US Navy rejected him for being too short, after which he was said to have taken to wearing Cuban heels, and proved to be a natural salesman in a store in Chicago.

3. The late tycoon lived a lavish life, nearly going bankrupt in 1931 when he owed £150,000 in tax. In 1940, the directors of Selfridges voted to remove him as chairman and gave him the honorary title of president, with a salary of £2,000. When he died in 1947, aged 90, he had just £1,500 to his name. He was buried in Hampshire beside his wife and mother.

4. When the first London store opened, it had never-seen-before ornate displays in the windows, including £1 million worth of diamonds, unheard of in those times. Selfridge said his aim was "to make my shop a civic centre, where friends can meet and buying is only a secondary consideration."

5. The English Heritage plaque is awarded by the historic trust to remember key figures in this country's history. Selfridge is credited with setting new standards in retailing based on his belief that a great modern store should be as important to public life as great landmarks. English Heritage said: "It is largely thanks to Selfridge that Oxford Street remains the commercial heart of the West End."

6. There are now almost 800 of the famous blue plaques in London, the first one erected in 1867 on Lord Byron's London home. They don't just honour the great figures of the past, such as Mozart and Van Gogh, they celebrate the heroes of today - last month Nelson Mandela presented a blue plaque to fellow South African freedom fighters Ruth First and Joe Slovo.

7. Selfridge made extensive use of advertising and changed the way items were displayed. He moved them from behind counters and placed in front of the customers, while the perfume counters were positioned right by the doors to entice customers further into the store.

8. Manchester is the only city outside of London to boast two Selfridges stores. However, there is another one due to open in Birmingham next month, which will have 15,000 aluminium discs making up the outside of the unusual building.

9. Canadian billionaire Galen Weston won control of Selfridges in July after several UK department stores were the subject of bid interest in recent months as well as Iranian property tycoon Robert Tchenguiz, who later dropped out of the race to buy the upmarket store group.

10. Its innovative retailing campaigns have included a trendy in-house tattoo parlour and eye-catching events such as its recent staging of a mass nudist art photo shoot. A Body Craze event even saw supermodel Elle MacPherson strip off in one of the store's Oxford Street display windows.