Galen Weston - Selfridges

Selfridges

In 2003, it was announced that Galen Weston had completed a deal to buy Selfridges, the high-end British department store chain, through the Weston family holding company. Press reports quoted a purchase price £598 million. Plans to expand the number of stores were shelved in favour of extensive renovations to Selfridges’ flagship store, the historic Oxford Street landmark in the heart of London’s shopping district. Daughter Alannah Weston (married to the grandson and heir of the late Baronet Sir Desmond Cochrane and his Lebanese wife Lady Cochrane Sursock) was subsequently named creative director at Selfridges. The Selfridges Group has since expanded its holdings with the November 2010 acquisition of luxury department store chain De Bijenkorf of the Netherlands and the July 2011 purchase of the Ogilvy department store in downtown Montreal.