What is this Establishment? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Harrods

Harrods can trace its roots back to a grocery shop founded in Stepney in London's East End in 1834, although its founder, Charles Henry Harrod, had previously run other retail businesses in London. The business moved to (a small portion of) its building on the Brompton Road in Knightsbridge in 1849 and then expanded to include a much wider range of goods and to focus on the luxury end of the market. The noted escalator was built of leather, mahogany and glass, but its luxury construction apparently did little to reassure anxious Victorian shoppers who were reportedly somewhat traumatised by the experience of having to stand on a set of moving stairs.

Other notable points in Harrods' history include the pet department and menagerie that once sold elephants, lion cubs and alligators (amongst other exotic creatures) as well as diamond-encrusted dog collars; its bombing by the Provisional IRA in 1983; and the memorial installed to Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed (the son of the store's then owner, Mohammed Al-Fayed) following their deaths in 1997.

Answer: Printemps

Printemps has had a grand department store on the Boulevard Haussmann since 1865, although the building shown in the picture clue dates from 1881 as the original was destroyed by fire. It was designed by the architect Paul Sédille and features several domed cupolas with fantastic glass ceilings. Printemps is often given credit for the introduction of various modern business practices such as set price labelling, discounting and window displays. The store also specialised in supplying high quality goods for the middle-class market at affordable prices. There are several other branches of the store across Paris, as well as in other French cities and other cities across the globe.

'Printemps' is French for 'spring'. 'Été', 'automne' and 'hiver' are the French words for summer, autumn and winter respectively.

Answer: Macy's

Macy's flagship department store on Herald Square at 34th Street and Broadway is big enough to fill almost an entire Manhattan block, being bounded by 34th Street, 35th Street, 7th Avenue and Broadway. With a floor area of over 200,000 square metres (2.2 million square feet), for many years it could lay claim to the title of the world's largest store and it still remains one of the biggest. The original part of the building was opened in 1902, but it was regularly extended until the section of building next to 7th Avenue was completed in 1931. It was recognised as a National Historical Landmark in 1978.

Macy's Herald Square store is particularly noted for its Christmas window displays, which are, frankly, almost as much of a tourist attraction in December as the Empire State Building just down the road...

Answer: David Jones

When the department store David Jones was first opened in 1838 it was located on Sydney's George Street; it didn't open its flagship store on Elizabeth Street until 1927. Since that date it has expanded to include a range of stores across Australia and abroad. The Elizabeth Street store once contained an art gallery (opened in 1944) that put on regular exhibitions, but the brand is now better known for its black-and-white tessellated logo and advertising slogans such as "There's no other store like David Jones" and "The most beautiful store in the world". The business remained under the control of the Jones family until 1980, when it was bought out by the Adelaide Steamship Company.

The incorrect options are all characters in 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest', which features Bill Nighy as Davy Jones, the captain of a mysterious ship called the Flying Dutchman.

Answer: Jenners

Jenners was founded in 1838 by Charles Jenner and Charles Kennington and was originally known as Kennington & Jenner. Like many historic department stores around the world, it no longer occupies its original premises thanks to a fire that destroyed those buildings in 1892. The rebuilt store, which occupies a prominent position on Princes Street, was designed by the architect William Hamilton Beattie. He was also responsible for a large number of other Edinburgh buildings, including hotels, schools and tenements. It is also known colloquially as the "Harrods of the North".

The incorrect options are all other formerly independent British department stores that have been taken over by the House of Fraser group.

Answer: GUM

The main branch of GUM occupies a building that stretches for nearly 250 metres (800 feet) along the eastern side of Moscow's Red Square. Unlike typical western department stores, the GUM is a collection of smaller shops and is run as a shopping centre. The building was constructed in the 1890s and has three shopping levels which are accessed from a long glass-roofed arcade. Originally known as the 'Upper Trading Rows', it was nationalised after the Russian Revolution and operated as the 'State Department Store', the initials of which in Russian formed the name GUM. Josef Stalin converted it into offices in 1928, but it reverted to a retail outlet following his death in 1953 and changed its name (but not its initials) in 2005 when it became known as the 'Main Universal Store'.

During the 20th century, GUM expanded throughout the Soviet Union and as a result stores can be found across Russia and other former Soviet states.

Answer: Le Bon Marché

Le Bon Marché was created in 1852 by a retailing entrepreneur by the name of Aristide Boucicaut. He formed the business from an earlier one named 'Au Bon Marché' and vastly increased both its size and turnover over his 25 years in charge until his death in 1877. The building seen in the picture clue was built in 1869 and later expanded by the architect Louis-Charles Boileau with the help of the company of the famed Gustav Eiffel.

The interior of the shop is possibly even more striking than the exterior; it features distinctive decorative escalators and high glass ceilings with ornate ironwork. It was also the inspiration for Emile Zola's 1883 novel 'Au Bonheur des Dames'.

Galeries Lafayette and BHV are other Paris department stores (if you decide to go shopping in the French capital then you will find a lot of options to choose between!) while Le Grande Epicerie de Paris is located close to Le Bon Marché and is its food outlet.

Answer: Selfridges

Selfridges was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge, an American businessman from Chicago, who identified a gap in London's provision of large department stores in the early 20th century. Although Oxford Street is now at the heart of London's main shopping district, at that time the western end of the street was considered unfashionable and Selfridge's new store played a major part in improving its image. Selfridge placed great importance on effective marketing and providing customers with an enjoyable in-store experience and as a result his store went on to become an iconic London destination.

The story of the founding of Selfridges and its early years in business were dramatised in the TV series 'Mr. Selfridge', which starred Jeremy Piven (of 'Entourage' fame) as Harry Selfridge.

The incorrect options all appeared on TV as fictional department stores; Costington's comes from 'The Simpsons', Grace Brothers appears in the sitcom 'Are You Being Served?' and Henrik's is in 'Doctor Who'.

Answer: Neiman Marcus

Neiman Marcus was founded in Dallas in 1907 by Carrie Marcus Neiman, her husband Abraham Lincoln Neiman and her brother Herman Marcus. The latter two ran the financial side of the business while Carrie Marcus Neiman provided the creative fashion input in terms of choosing the store's stock. She also instituted the Neiman Marcus Fashion Award, hosted fashion shows in the store and remained active in the business until her death in 1953. Neiman Marcus remained in the ownership of the Marcus family (Abraham Lincoln Neiman had been bought out following his divorce from Carrie Neiman Marcus) until 1969.

The flagship store located in the Neiman Marcus Building in the Main Street District of Dallas dates back to 1914 and replaced the original building that had been destroyed by fire the previous year.

The incorrect options are all US department stores, Stanley Korshak can be found in Dallas, but Von Maur was founded in Iowa and Elder-Beerman in Ohio.

Answer: Hudson's Bay

The Hudson's Bay Company was formed in 1670 for the purpose of exploiting the fur trade between America and Europe. As a result it once owned and controlled territory equivalent to around 15% of the land mass of North America. The retail sector of the business developed in the mid-19th century in the form of small stores located in the company's vast network of trading posts.

The first Hudson's Bay department store opened in Winnipeg in 1881 and more soon followed in other major cities in western Canada. The stores in eastern cities were generally acquired from other department store chains such as Morgan's, Woodward's and Simpsons. The pictured store on Queen Street in Toronto was once part of the Simpsons chain. The stores have also been previously known by the company's full name and as 'The Bay'. In French they are referred to as 'la Baie d'Hudson'.

James Bay is the name given to the southern section of the geographic Hudson Bay (note the name change from the original version used by the Hudson's Bay Company). The North West Company and the American Fur Company are two other former fur trading organisations.