Royal shopping at Liberty in London

- April 06, 2019

Liberty London United Kingdom

One of the most beautiful department stores in London, United Kingdom
certainly is Liberty, located on the Great Marlborough Street, near
Regent Street.

It sells many luxury goods as fashion, cosmetics, fragrances, jewellery,
accessoires, homeware, furniture, stationery and gifts. Liberty is known for its
floral and graphic prints.

Some history

In 1843, Arthur Lasenby Liberty was born in Chesham, Buckinhamshire. He
was employed by Messrs Farmer and Rogers in Regent Street in 1862. That
was the year of the International Exhibition in London.

Arthur Liberty - Source picture: Wikipedia

Around 1874, inspired by his 10 years of service, he decided to start a
business of his own, which he did the next year.

He loaned 2.000 pounds from his future father-in-law and he accepted the
lease of half a shop at 218A Regent Street with three staff members.

His shop opened during 1875. It sold ornaments, fabric and objets d'art
from Japan and the East. Within eighteen months he could pay his loan
back. As the business grew, neighbouring properties were bought and
added.

In 1884, Arthur Liberty introduced the costume department directed
by Edward William Godwin, a founding member of The Costume
Society. The Costume Society had close ties to the Victoria and Albert
Museum.

The store became one of the most fashionable places to shop in London.
Some of its clients were exotic, others were famous artists.

Liberty specialized itself in Oriental goods, also imported from India.
But during the 1890's the department store built strong relationships
with English designers. Many of them made creations in the
Art Nouveau style. This style became known as the Stile Liberty.

Liberty London United Kingdom Detail of their Coat of Arms

Arthur Liberty died in 1917, 7 years before the completion of his shops.

In the 1950's Liberty started to open several regional stores in the other
UK cities. the first of these was in Manchester. However in 1996
Liberty announced the closure of all of its department stores outside London
and it focused instead on small shops and airports.

Since 1988 Liberty started in Japan, there major shops sell Liberty branded
products.

Architecture

The style of the Liberty department store was built in a Tudor Style
It was designed by Edwin Thomas Hall and his son.

Royal links

* Liberty sold once a miniature portrait of Queen Elizabeth.
* The coat of arms of Liberty is the one of the wives of King Henry VIII.

A visit

As Liberty really is close to Regent Street, I visited the department Store
in 2004 and 2016. It is in fact a true experience.