Selfridges new owners have big plans for Oxford Street development

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jan 3, 2022

The new owners of Selfridges have major property development plans for the site in Oxford Street, London, with news that a luxury hotel and flats will be created. They will also continue to upgrade the main department store.

The business has been bought for around £4 billion by a joint venture of Thailand’s Central Group and Austria-based Signa. The premium purchase price was said to have been achieved partly because of the high value of the firm’s property holdings.

Unlike some other major stores on Oxford Street — such as the nearby M&S and John Lewis closer to Oxford Circus that have plans to create major office space — no retail space reductions are planned. And the improvement works at the store (that have seen both the women’s and menswear areas being upgraded so far) will continue. The food hall is reportedly next to get a major upgrade.

Dieter Berninghaus, executive chairman of Signa, told the FT a new hotel and apartments linked to Selfridges’ flagship store would add “significant value”.

There had previously been a Selfridges Hotel but this closed in 2008 and the space it took up had largely been empty since then, expect for one-off projects.