There are several assessments of the world’s best department stores that are released annually and a new one has given the top title to London’s Fortnum & Mason.

The study was conducted by coupon codes specialist CouponPi, which analysed 50 of the world’s top stores and over 46,000 Google reviews. It considered the average rating of online reviews for each department store alongside the number of times words indicating a positive experience were used. 

Fortnum’s, with annual turnover of more than £208 million score the highest with a 10 out of 10 score based on positive sentiment reviews and average ratings out of five (it was at 4.6). The store came ahead of El Palacio de Hierro, Polanco, Mexico City, and another UK store, Liberty London.

In fact, UK and Ireland stores figure prominently on the list with Dublin’s Arnotts in fourth place, and London’s Selfridges fifth.

The rest of the top 10 comprises Printemps Haussmann in Paris, Takashimaya Shopping Centre in Ngee Ann City, Singapore, Bloomingdale’s on 59th Street then Saks Fifth Avenue, Midtown (both in New York) and Le Bon Marché Paradise in Paris.

All of the stores received high ratings (4.5 out of 5 minimum) with the percentage of positive sentiment reviews at 62.1% for the winner and 44.9% for the 10-placed store.

Historic Fortnum & Mason is best known as a purveyor of fine foods, but also sells items like gifts, beauty and accessories.

El Palacio de Hierro is a chain of 16 department stores across Mexico. Its inaugural five-story location was the first iron and steel building in the city, hence earning it the name ‘The Iron Palace’. The flagship store in Polanco was remodelled and reopened in 2016, clearly to great success. The department store scores 9.6 out of 10, with an average rating of 4.6 and a 57.4% positive sentiment rating. Reviewers rave about its cleanliness, spaciousness, and choice of brands.

Liberty London, umistakable due to its black and white mock Tudor storefront (made from the timber of two battleships) has a positivity score of 55.3%. Reviewers describe a visit to Liberty London as “a sensorial delight” and “the most beautiful department store of all time”, and suggest a visit to the historic haberdashery and textiles section.

Almost 200-years-old, Arnotts is the oldest and largest department store in Ireland. Now owned by Selfridges, it has a 60.9% positive sentiment score, with reviewers praising “really nice, charming and helpful staff” who go “above and beyond” or that “truly made my day”. 

London’s Selfridges is the second-largest retail premises in the UK at a huge 50,000 sq m (Harrods is the largest). Reviewers mention the world-famous window displays and exclusive products.

The report also came up with the word’s top department stores at Christmas using the same criteria. Here, Saks Fifth Avenue won, followed by Le Bon Marché, Liberty, Macy’s State Street in Chicago, Selfridges in London, Isetan Shinjuku in Tokyo, Galeries Lafayette Haussmann in Paris, and London’s Harrods.

The full report on the world’s top department store can be found at https://www.couponpi.com/blog/best-department-stores.