Britain is a nation of shopkeepers, said Napoleon. There's no business like show business, wrote Irving Berlin in Annie Get Your Gun. Harrods has minted a plan to combine the two.

To demonstrate that, for a nation of shopkeepers, there's no business like showbusiness, the Knightsbridge store is showcasing West End musicals. Its aim is to serenade to its tills tourists who spend £6 billion a year in West End shops. The theatres hope the shoppers will like what they hear enough to book seats for the full show.

Breakfast at Tiffany's? At Harrods you'll hear the sound of music as you mingle among high society (see page 43). As show tunes fill the aisles, the message will be: what good is sitting all alone in your room? Come hear the music play.

Among the musicals set to offer shoppers 20-minute tasters of tunes, like sample slivers of cheese at a deli counter, are Chicago, The Phantom of the Opera, Mamma Mia! and Avenue Q.

But why stop there? Why not weave all this musical gaiety more firmly into the retail tapestry by spreading show tunes throughout every department of London's West End stores?

Which man squinting at his reflection in the mirror in the dresswear section would not blush to hear sales staff singing Oh, What A Beautiful Morning Suit from Oklahoma? Or You'll Never Walk Alone from Carousel in the department selling puppies? Or Cole Porter's Just One Of Those Things when selling doughnuts to the diet-conscious? What wouldn't it do for shampoo sales if shop assistants all sang the South Pacific hit, I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair?

Purchase a product, and get a little culture thrown in: the ultimate buy one, get one free.