Harrods teams up with Dixons

It is famous for its spectacular food hall and its pet department and it attracts well-heeled shoppers from all over the world. Now Harrods , arguably the UK's poshest department store, has unveiled an unlikely alliance with the European electricals company Dixons . Under a five-year concession agreement, Dixons Retail will run a consumer electronics section in the flagship shop in London's Knightsbridge. It will sell a wide range of electronic equipment, including computing, audio and vision products together with related accessories and will also offer its new bespoke technical support service, Knowhow. The 11,000 sq ft store will open in early 2012 in its new space on the third floor of Harrods. It promises to be "at the forefront of store design" and will be fully staffed by Dixons Retail employees. Unusually, it will not be branded as Dixons, instead appearing as the new Harrods sound and vision technology department. The link-up is considered unusual because Harrods, no longer owned Mohamed Al Fayed, is still decidedly upmarket, in stark contrast to Dixons' mass market high street brands PC World and Currys . But a Harrods spokeswoman said the move was part of streamlining its 10 existing concessions, which include Bang & Olufsen , Vodafone and upmarket massage chair company Osim into a more upmarket consumer electronics offer. The store will be saying goodbye to Micro Anvika, Tekzoned, HMV and Sony Centre. Recently Harrods' HMV concession made the headlines when an employee claimed she had been driven out because she refused to wear makeup.