Harrods boss Michael Ward: ‘It’ll take us years to rebuild’

Resplendent in green coat and tails, the Harrods doorman throws open the entrance to London’s most opulent department store for the first time in a month, stepping aside to let a cosmopolitan crowd of 150 rush in for some overdue retail therapy.

Within minutes, a lengthy queue of well-heeled women has formed outside the store’s new Louis Vuitton room, while on the fourth floor a beaming staffer zooms around the toy department wearing trainers with flashing roller-skate wheels.

“I’m a hell of a lot happier than I was a week ago,” Harrods managing director Michael Ward says later, after reviewing the takings from last Wednesday — the first day that England’s non-essential shops were open after Lockdown 2.0. There may have been fewer customers than