Fortnum & Mason’s Christmas windows and a chocolate Advent calendar bring the festive season to Piccadilly in this Roberts London archive vlog. Published on 28 November 2015, the film follows Barry’s first Christmas shopping trip of the year.
The visit has a specific purpose: buying an Advent calendar for his girlfriend, Chloe. Once the gift is chosen, there is time to look around the Christmas department and admire the windows outside.
Christmas shopping on Piccadilly
The opening takes in a church, a Christmas tree and a market before Barry introduces the evening’s errand. It is late November, and this is a present that will be given and opened before Christmas Day.
Across the road, Fortnum & Mason’s illuminated frontage sets the scene. Inside, the camera passes decorated displays and follows the route upstairs towards the Christmas department.
Choosing a chocolate Advent calendar
On the third floor, Barry explains that he has already checked the range online. He wants a chocolate-filled calendar: a small treat for each day in the run-up to Christmas, chosen because he knows Chloe enjoys Fortnum’s chocolates.
He describes a selection that includes champagne, passion-fruit and gin-and-lime truffles, alongside hazelnut, marzipan and vanilla cream fudge. The illustrated calendar is held up for a closer look as he considers the choice.
Inside the Christmas department
The displays offer more than one approach to Advent. Barry points out wooden and musical calendars, as well as refill packs, while discussing some of the other types available during that season.
For this visit, he settles on chocolate. The department around him is filled with seasonal gifts and decorations, including house-shaped calendars that form part of the display.
Gifts, decorations and Christmas crackers
After paying, Barry takes another look around. He mentions decorations for the home and tree, games, gifts for dinner-party guests, Christmas cards and crackers.
Some of the crackers make a particular impression: he spots a set priced at £1,000 for six during the visit. His own purchase is considerably smaller. He says the chocolate Advent calendar costs £35 and feels it is the one Chloe will enjoy most.
Both prices belong to this November 2015 shopping trip. They are part of the archive account, rather than current product or price information.
Through the shop on the way out
The camera continues through the store, taking in confectionery tins, gift displays and decorated stairs. These details give the film a sense of browsing between the main purchase and the return to Piccadilly.
Barry’s enthusiasm is for the care put into the gifts and their presentation. The calendar is the reason for coming, but the wider displays become part of the outing.
Fortnum & Mason’s Christmas windows
Outside, people are stopping to photograph the windows. Barry joins them for a closer look, pointing out hampers and gift boxes among the elaborate seasonal displays.
Wicker baskets, ribbons, richly coloured backdrops and decorative objects fill the glass-fronted scenes. The camera moves along the pavement, recording both the displays and the activity on Piccadilly.
A passing Rolls-Royce briefly distracts him before he returns to the windows. Red and gold arrangements, bright lighting and densely arranged gifts give the final sequence its festive character.
The film closes outside the illuminated store with the first Christmas purchase complete: an Advent gift ready for December and an evening look at Fortnum’s 2015 windows.
Watch the Fortnum & Mason Christmas shopping vlog
Archive note: this film was originally published on 28 November 2015. Products, prices and displays described here relate to that visit.
