London’s Fortnum & Mason to open first new store in 300 years

Fortnum & Mason, the over 300-year-old upmarket goods retailer in London's Piccadilly area, will for the first time open another stand-alone retail outlet in the former ticket hall of London's St Pancras International station.

The new store will open in November. Fortnum said on Wednesday that the location was a growth area in London and strategically important as the Eurostar gateway to Europe.

Fortnum & Mason chief executive Ewan Venters said, "It's a great opportunity. We feel the centre of gravity in London is moving north and east from Piccadilly.

"Thirty-five million people a year go through the station, and nearly a quarter of those people are going there to shop rather than to travel."

The retailer said the ticket hall, which has retained the brickwork and vaulting of the original building, "chimes with Fortnum's own sense of tradition".

There will also be an "on-the-go offering" for passengers heading for trains.

Fortnum, which was founded in 1707, has previously opened concessions at airports, including Heathrow's Terminal 5, but the St Pancras outlet is its first new stand-alone store.

The Queen's grocer holds a string of royal warrants and is best known for its food hall, stocking a vast range of loose-leaf teas and picnic hampers among other things.

The company expands cautiously. It had its fingers burnt in the 1930s, opening a store on Madison Avenue just in time for the Great Depression. Now, it perhaps hopes that its new store will open in time for an expected global economic recovery.