I could have closed down bits of British Home Stores to make more money but it's not my style. I want to make my money as a retailer, not by putting people out of work.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The United Kingdom has traditionally been a very small market, and even though you had such a creative group of designers, they represented a risk to department stores.
I have wanted to run my own business since my time at Clitheroe grammar school. I remember thinking if I could get a penny from everyone in Britain, I would earn £208,000 a year.
England is a nation of shopkeepers.
When I arrived, I didn't understand London customers perfectly, but we've developed the right style with the right price, and step by step, I'm in harmony with London.
I've never worked in a retail store, but I did sell shoes at Gimme Shoes in San Francisco, a job I was fired from.
The thing is, I don't want to be sold to when I walk into a store. I want to be welcomed.
I'm a normal consumer but try to do the best I can. I try to buy locally, and I mostly avoid supermarkets.
London is a fantastic creator of jobs - but many of these jobs are going to people who don't originate in this country.
To be an entrepreneur in Europe, there is a stigma attached to it. There's a reason why England is known as a nation of shopkeepers. Part of it is the idea that it's better to have a shop and keep it up and running than close the doors and try to do something much more significant.
I am not a retailer - I have never run a store; I have never understood the full details of how you can make a consumer satisfied. To build a company, to do deals, to motivate people: this is what I am able to do.