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Fortnum & Mason (colloquially often shortened to just "Fortnum's") is an upmarket department store situated in central London, with an additional store at St Pancras railway station, Heathrow T5, Dubai and various stockists worldwide. Its headquarters is located at 181 Piccadilly, where it was established in 1707 by William Fortnum and Hugh Mason. It is privately owned by Wittington Investments Ltd. Founded as a grocery store, Fortnum's reputation was built on supplying quality food, and saw rapid growth throughout the Victorian era. Though Fortnum's developed into a department store, it continues to focus on stocking a variety of exotic, speciality and also 'basic' provisions. The store has since opened several other departments, such as the Gentlemen's department on the third floor. It is also the location of a celebrated tea shop and several restaurants. ==History== William Fortnum was a footman in the royal household of Queen Anne. The Royal Family’s insistence on having new candles every night meant a lot of half-used wax which William Fortnum promptly resold for a tidy profit. The enterprising William Fortnum also had a sideline business as a grocer. He convinced his landlord, Hugh Mason, to be his associate, and they founded the first Fortnum & Mason store in Mason's small shop in St James's Market in 1707. In 1761, William Fortnum's grandson Charles went into the service of Queen Charlotte and the Royal Court affiliation led to an increase in business. Fortnum & Mason claims to have invented the Scotch egg in 1738.〔(【引用サイトリンク】publisher=Fortnum & Mason )〕 The store began to stock speciality items, namely ready-to-eat luxury meals such as fresh poultry or game served in aspic jelly.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=1700s )〕 During the Napoleonic Wars, the emporium supplied dried fruit, spices and other preserves to the British officers and during the Victorian era it was frequently called upon to provide food for prestigious Court functions. Queen Victoria even sent shipments of Fortnum and Mason's concentrated beef tea to Florence Nightingale's hospitals during the Crimean War.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=1800s )〕 Charles Drury Edward Fortnum F.S.A. (1820–1899), of the family, was a distinguished art collector and a Trustee of the British Museum, to which he donated his collection of Islamic ceramics. In 1886, after having bought the entire stock of five cases of a new product made by H.J. Heinz, Fortnum & Mason became the first store in Britain to stock tins of baked beans.〔 In April 1951, Canadian businessman W. Garfield Weston acquired the store and became its chairman following a boardroom coup. In 1964, he commissioned a four-ton clock to be installed above the main entrance of the store as a tribute to its founders. Every hour, models of William Fortnum and Hugh Mason emerge and bow to each other, with chimes and 18th-century–style music playing in the background. Since Garfield Weston's death in 1978, the store has been run by his granddaughters, Jana Khayat and Kate Weston Hobhouse and the Managing Director is Ewan Venters. The store underwent a £24 million refurbishment in 2007 as part of its tercentenary celebrations. In March 2012, the Queen, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge made their first official joint visit to Fortnum & Mason. The Queen opened the Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon on the fourth floor. In November 2013, an additional store was opened at St Pancras International station - the first new store in the UK. Fortnum & Mason opened its first standalone store outside Britain in Dubai on 21 March 2014. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Fortnum & Mason」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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