How Harrods, London's luxury emporium, is dealing with a sexual abuse scandal

London: Across the department store's seven labyrinthine floors, visitors weave their way past designer bags, diamond-encrusted watches and columns carved with Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Outside, shoppers pause for selfies in front of the terra-cotta facade, undeterred by the rain, clutching green paper bags with gold lettering spelling out the iconic name: Harrods.

The department store, which first opened in 1849, has long drawn luxury shoppers. But a deluge of allegations of rape and sexual assault against the late Mohamed al-Fayed, a billionaire businessman and the owner of Harrods from 1985 until 2010, have complicated the image of the heritage-driven retailer.

A BBC documentary last month detailed harrowing allegations of sexual abuse by al-Fayed against a number of female employees, raising questions about the culture within Harrods that they say enabled his behavior.

Al-Fayed, his accusers say, used Harrods as a hunting ground for young women whom he would select from the storeroom floor and then elevate to work in his personal office. At least five women said he raped them, while more than 20 former employees alleged other cases of sexual harassment and abuse, including within Harrods' offices, al-Fayed's home or on business trips abroad.

They allege that al-Fayed's behavior was an open secret within the company. A number of female employees said they were subjected to intrusive gynecological exams and sexual health tests when joining Harrods.

In 2010, al-Fayed sold Harrods to Qatar's sovereign wealth fund for 1.5 billion pounds (more than $2 billion at the time.) Harrods has been responsive to the allegations, quickly announcing a settlement process and encouraging former employees to contact the business for support and potential recourse. It has also introduced 50 new "sexual harassment officers" who it says are trained to "provide safe, empathetic assistance and support to workers with complaints of sexual harassment" as part of a review of company culture.

Even as the company addresses the fallout of the documentary, a stream of new allegations have poured in.

Lawyers say they now represent 71 clients who say they were abused by al-Fayed, and are processing a further 220 inquiries. In a news conference last week, the lawyers said that they intend to file individual civil cases against Harrods.

Al-Fayed, who died last year at 94, was a larger-than-life figure who courted celebrities and royalty. Later in his life, he became best known for the romance between his son, Dodi, and Diana, Princess of Wales, who both died in a 1997 car crash in Paris.

He left a clear imprint on the store. The Egyptian room -- an opulent space overlooking the central escalator in Harrods -- includes a number of pharaoh statues, with a face modeled after his, that were still visible in the store this week.

Harrods said in a statement that since the new owners bought the store in 2010, "Harrods has been investing heavily to remove physical remnants of Mohamed Fayed from the store and return the store to its Edwardian heritage."

That work had been delayed because it is a listed building, a historical structure that requires special permission to renovate, Harrods said, adding, "this process is being expedited in respect to his victims and our colleagues."

Outside the department store on a rainy day in London last week, several shoppers had not even heard of the allegations against al-Fayed -- reflecting the fact that many of the store's customers are international tourists, and pointing to a likely area of resilience for the brand. A large number of visitors come from the Middle East and Asia. In 2017, the company said that Chinese nationals had overtaken British shoppers as the biggest spenders in the store.

Louise DeAngelo, 69, and her daughter Krystal Perdick, 48, who were visiting London for four days from the United States, described Harrods as a must-see on their London checklist. Neither knew of the allegations against al-Fayed, but said they hoped the new owners were taking it seriously.

"In a lot of these big businesses, there is so much bad stuff that goes on, unfortunately," said DeAngelo, who also works in retail.

Natalie Berg, a retail analyst and host of the Retail Disrupted podcast, said that in the wake of #MeToo, Harrods could not afford any missteps in addressing the claims.

"The allegations against al-Fayed are horrific and will undoubtedly leave a stain on Harrods' reputation," she said. "The retailer now needs to prove to the world that the Harrods of 2024 is a safe and inclusive workplace and that they're addressing the systemic failures of the past."

However, since al-Fayed owned Harrods for just 25 of the store's 175-year history, Berg said that in the longer term it might not make a difference to consumers who see Harrods as a British institution.

"I don't see the brand suffering long-term damage, but this could change depending on how the current owners respond to more women coming forward," Berg said.

Michael Ward, the managing director of Harrods, conveyed his "personal horror at the revelations that have emerged" in a statement last week, and called the al-Fayed era a "shameful period," maintaining that the business is now "unrecognizable to Harrods under his ownership."

He acknowledged that the company "failed our colleagues, and for that we are deeply sorry." Ward, who worked for al-Fayed from 2006 until 2010, said he "was not aware of his criminality and abuse" and while "rumors of his behavior circulated in the public domain," authorities had never come to him directly.

London's Metropolitan Police said that between 2005 and 2023 they received allegations from 19 women about al-Fayed, relating to offenses alleged to have taken place between 1979 and 2013. The police took evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service in 2009 and 2015, but no charges were ever brought. Last month, a representative for the public prosecutor said in a statement that prosecutors at the time had believed there was not "a realistic prospect of conviction."

Since the documentary aired, police have encouraged any women affected to come forward, and said they are investigating whether other individuals could be pursued for criminal offenses.

The scandal has erupted at a time when Harrods has been enjoying record business. Last year the company reported its highest-ever annual sales, of nearly 900 million pounds, or around $1.2 billion, up 8% on the previous year.

Leah Van Gelderen, 25, who is Dutch but lives in London, was shopping at Harrods last week and said she had fond memories of picking out toys there as a child. While the allegations against al-Fayed made her uneasy, she said they were unlikely to change her shopping habits.

"It's not good to hear," she said. "But to me, I've never linked the idea of shopping here to the owners."

Richard Hyman, a retail analyst, said that "as conspicuous consumption has become uncool," parts of the luxury sector have struggled. But Harrods, he noted, has proved resilient. One of the things the company had done well was to create scarcity, he said.

"There is really only one Harrods, and it isn't a store that is focused on its local community; it's very much focused on an international shopper," he said. "So it might be easy to overestimate the negative fallout from something like this."