I Shop, Therefore I Am
The '90s, Harvey Nicks – and Me
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Canongate Books
Published:2nd Oct '25
Should be back in stock very soon
This hardback is available in another edition too:
- Hardback - Signed Edition£20.00(9781837264414-S)

'A riot' - The Times
'Absolutely irresistible' - Joanna Lumley
'I couldn't put it down!' - Michelle Ogundehin
Chronicling how she transformed Harvey Nichols from a fusty, old-fashioned store to a thriving, cutting-edge fashion brand, this entertaining and insightful book is suffused with the heady glamour and excess of 90s Cool Britannia.
Mary takes us behind the shop window - to the people who kept the show on the road and the early lessons that shaped her career. Told with her trademark wit, grit and candour, readers will see first-hand how, armed only with the blank canvas of a shop window and her own creativity, Mary created an era-defining global brand destination.
Portas is a sort of tornado, unpredictable, funny and slightly terrifying, travelling at the speed of light. But in the quiet eye of this storm of a book lies great wisdom and truth. Absolutely irresistible -- JOANNA LUMLEY
Mary Portas's memories of her years at Harvey Nichols draw me right back into that fascination.I Shop, Therefore I Am is so enthralling that I kept pausing in order to savour the next anecdote or clever, acidic observation . . . It's worth riding alongside this observant semi-outsider, disrupter, inspirer * * Times Literary Supplement * *
A book with all the grit, gossip, beauty and brutality of retail. I couldn't put it down! -- MICHELLE OGUNDEHIN
From her 70s childhood to her time at Harvey Nichols, this memoir is funny, moving and wise in equal measures * * Good Housekeeping * *
If anyone wants to know what it was like to be a woman working in the heart of London fashion retail in the '90s, Mary Portas's book provides an entertaining rollercoaster ride -- ALEXANDRA SHULMAN
A riot * * The Times * *
Britain's "Queen of Shops" takes us back three decades to her time stalking the floor at Harvey Nichols, at the height of its Ab Fab-inspired cachet * * Guardian * *
This page-turning memoir is Absolutely Fabulous fun - quite literally. But it is also about the serious business of following one's instincts, taking creative risks and negotiating inflexible (male) managers -- CAROLINE SANDERSON * * Bookseller * *
Praise for Mary Portas: 'Portas writes with wit and verve * * Independent * *
Mary is my hero -- SCARLETT CURTIS
ISBN: 9781837264414
Dimensions: 220mm x 159mm x 28mm
Weight: 496g
336 pages
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