Waterford man Paul Kelly has been awarded the retail industry’s top award after the CEO of Selfridges & Co. scooped the accolade of Best Department Store in the World.
Kelly, also Deputy Chairman of the Brown Thomas Group, accepted the award for Selfridges at the Global Department Summit in New York at the weekend, besting competition from Bloomingdale’s (New York) and Lane Crawford (Hong Kong) in the process.
The success follows another prestigious industry award for Paul Kelly earlier this year after he was selected as the third most important person in menswear by UK men’s lifestyle mag GQ. Kelly was appointed CEO of Selfridges in 2003 and Deputy Chairman of the Brown Thomas Group in 2009.
Kelly was originally raised in Waterford before moving to Dublin at the age of 7. He earned his stripes in the menswear of Bolgers, where his father was a Director. After Bolgers was taken over by Dunnes Stores, Kelly worked his way up to become a senior buyer, before moving over to the Brown Thomas Group.
Whilst working at Brown Thomas Kelly helped successfully revamp BT subsidiary A-Wear, which was originally burdened with the unfortunate ‘Gaywear’ title in its 1967 inception. Paul then became MD of Brown Thomas in the mid-nineties and turned it into Ireland’s premier fashion retailer. His partner Shelly Corkery is the Fashion Director of the Brown Thomas Group also.
The new Best Department Store in the World, Selfridges is a centenary-old brand founded by an American, George Selfridge, in 1909. Its London flagship store was selected for the prestigious honour by the IGDS (Intercontinental Group of Department Stores) and the IADS (International Association of Department Stores). Kelly’s honour makes Selfridges the second store to win the prize, after Saks Fifth Avenue won the inaugural prize two years ago.
