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It is a large empire, privately owned, in which some dozen or so members of the family work. Around the world, calculates Mohamed, the family employs some 10,000 people. Fraser would add another 27,000.
THE BROTHERS are not certain yet to get Harrods. Their bid for Fraser is approved and recommended by the board but Rowland is urging the government to refer it to the Monopolies Commission which had previously prevented Rowland himself from gaining control.
But, assuming that Al-Fayeds do win, what will they do with the famous store? Almost exactly what they did with the Ritz in Paris, they said. They bought the hotel for £25m then painstakingly restored it at a cost of another £35m to its former glory. "It is," said the brothers, "the best hotel in the world." But it still only breaks even. They make their money from it by selling the prestige of the Ritz name all over the world. The champagne served by Sydney is the Ritz's own brand; in the United States you can buy everything from Nabisco Ritz crackers to Ritz soap. "By next year," said Ali, "Ritz franchising could be making between $30m and $40 million a year."
That, they indicated, is nothing compared with what they could do with Harrods. "Look at what Yves St Laurent or Dior do. Harrods is a better name. Why, people will even buy a Harrods bag, put any old rubbish in it, just to show that they've been there."
The Knightsbridge store itself has grown slightly seedy, partly because the management has spent the past seven years trying to fight off Rowland. The brothers would spend money on it, build a swish new restaurant, and create more store space.
It was hard to conceive, in the brothers' elegant Park Lane apartment, that the famous Knightsbridge institution would lose any of its dignity. And, like other British "jewels" that have fallen into foreign hands, it may well have a longer and more prosperous life.
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