Together with Jean-Paul Barat, general manager for food and catering, it spent 18 months developing the concept, and they travelled to supermarkets in Asia, Japan and Europe for inspiration. The outcome, says Barat simply, is amazing. The store sits next to Marks and Spencer in Exchange Square, about 10 miles away from the city's other Selfridges in the Trafford Centre. Barat says he feared it might cannibalise sales but that so far this has not been the case. "Revenue at the Trafford Centre store is up so they've probably benefited from us opening." The 1,300 sq m food hall on the lower ground hall was designed to be groundbreaking and no counter is over 1.5m high so that shoppers can see right across the store. Says Barat: "We wanted to have a store which was different and to create a new generation for Selfridges." But it is not only for buying food there are a staggering 138 seats where shoppers can taste and eat, and Barat is keen that their visit is a leisurely one. "I want people to come to buy food and to experience it and spend some time here." The new hall is already getting a big mix of shoppers and Barat hopes Selfridges will prove a shop that people visit daily, rather than weekly. It is not, however, the place for the weekly shop unless you are mega-rich because many of the 3,000 lines are exclusive and exotic. The Food Hall offers a range of foods, from freshly made pasta flown in from Italy to wild salmon, Alderton ham, Welsh lamb and Devon ice cream. And because it consists heavily of speciality or foreign food, staff are trained by suppliers and managers to give advice. However, a good 20% is from the UK and 4% is regional boosted by Selfridges' regular tie-up with Food from Britain. {{ANALYSIS }}