The London store was built in phases. The first phase consisted of only the nine-and-a-half bays closest to the Duke Street corner, and is an example of one of the earliest uses of steel cage frame construction for this type of building in London. This circumstance, according to the report of a contemporary London correspondent from the "Chicago Tribune", was largely responsible for making possible the eventual widespread use of Chicago’s steel frame cage construction system in the United Kingdom. “Under the pressure of Selfridge and the interests allied with him, the councilors admitted the soundness of American building methods and framed a bill which will be pressed at once in parliament to permit these methods to be used here.”. A scheme to erect a massive tower above the store was never carried out.