The luxury department store announced that visitor numbers had dropped by 95% since the COVID-19 pandemic struck the UK. The store is reliant on Asian and American tourist spend and as a result has been badly hit by overseas travel restrictions. The company predicted that annual sales will fall 45% this year and would not return to growth until 2023.

In response to the poor trading conditions Harrods announced earlier in July that it intended to make almost 700 roles redundant to help cut costs. The department also opened a pop-up store in Westfield London designed to support social distancing where it could sell excess stock.