I Shop, Therefore I Am

A GUARDIAN 'BEST BOOK TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN 2025'

It's the 1990s: Britpop is dominating the charts, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell stare out from the cover of every glossy magazine and British fashion is ripe for reinvention. Leading the charge is a twenty-something Mary Portas who has been brought in to revitalise the department store Harvey Nichols, at the time more likely to be associated with dowagers than daring designers.

With department stores dying and an alpha male senior management team to impress, the pressure to make profit and bring in young customers, Mary would need to roll up her sleeves like never before to prove she was the woman for the job. By the millennium, the store would be renowned for its outrageous, headline-grabbing, traffic-stopping window displays; patronage by style icon Lady Di and Bolly-swigging duo Patsy and Edina of the iconic sitcom Ab Fab - no longer fusty old Harvey Nicols but Harvey Nicks, daaarling! I Shop, Therefore I Am is the story of how she did it.

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 a business empire that has stood the test of time.

Mary is my hero -- SCARLETT CURTIS
Portas writes with wit and verve Independent
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

Mary Portas is one of the UK's most high-profile and innovative businesswomen. After making her name transforming Harvey Nichols into a global fashion destination, Mary launched Portas, her own creative company, with the mission to transform businesses into brands, places and spaces people want in their lives. Today her team work with clients ranging from Mercedes to Sainsbury's. She has been a regular on our TV screens, advised the government on the future of high streets and developed a fashion label. Her proudest achievement to date is the creation of twenty-six Mary's Living & Giving shops for Save the Children. She is the author of Shop Girl, Work Like a Woman and Rebuild.

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