IELTS Listening Exercise 84 – Macy’s, Fortnum and Mason

Answers – Listening Exercises

Macy’s

1. department stores
2. 1843, 1855
3. 18th/ eighteenth
4. 1902
5. Thanksgiving Day

Fortnum & Mason

1. central London
2. clothes, books and games
3. grandson
4. baskets of food
5. 25000

Audio Transcript

Good morning. I’m John Masters, and this is Shopper, the weekly show on retail and shopping. Later in today’s show, we’ll be talking to online shopping expert, Marta James. But before that, we’re talking about some famous shops from around the world. And live from New York City, we’ve got Madison, who’s going to tell us all about Macy’s.

Hi John, well, one of the most famous department stores in New York City is Macy’s. There are over 850 Macy’s stores all over the United States. But the flagship store is in Herald Square Manhattan, just around the corner from the Empire State Building. Interestingly, Rowland Macy, the company founder, opened his first shops in the town of Haverhill in Massachusetts between 1843 and 1855, but they weren’t successful. However, Macy learned from his mistakes and in 1858 he moved to New York. He opened his first New York store on 18th of October 1858 and was immediately successful. The Herald Square store was opened in 1902. Macy’s is especially famous for its Thanksgiving Day parade, which marks the beginning of the Christmas season.

That’s great Madison. Thanks a lot. And now we’ve got Jamie in London, He is going to tell us all about Fortnum & Mason.

Well, one of the oldest shops in London is Fortnum & Mason. It was founded by William Fortnum and Hugh Mason in 1707, at 181 Piccadilly, in central London. Originally, the shop only sold food, but these days it sells all sorts of other goods, including clothes, books and games. It has the gentlemen’s department on the top floor, a famous tea shop and several restaurants. The business started out small, but in 1761 William Fortnum’s grandson, Charles, went to work for Queen Charlotte. As a result, the Royal started shopping there. These days the connection with the Royal family is still strong. In fact, Queen Elizabeth, and the duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton visited Fortnum’s earlier this year. Fortnum’s is really famous for its Hampers, which are baskets of food. There are picnic Hampers, and Christmas Hampers that are full of wines and Christmas food. They are extremely popular, but also quite expensive, and can cost up to 25000 pounds, about 30000 Euros.