Fortnum & Mason

William Fortnum, a footman in Queen Anne's household with a sideline reselling the palace's half-used candles, and his landlord Hugh Mason founded their store in 1707; three centuries later the eau-de-nil building at 181 Piccadilly remains England's grocer of record. Fortnum's history reads like the empire's pantry: inventing the Scotch egg by its own account, provisioning expeditions and officers' messes, dispatching hampers that became the definitive English gift — the wicker basket with its teas, preserves, and biscuits still the house's emblem. Royal warrants have run continuously for generations. The ground-floor food hall, the tea salon upstairs where afternoon tea is taken beneath chandeliers, and the hive-to-jar honey from rooftop bees round out the institution. Buy a hamper or the Royal Blend tea — the store's entire history packs into either.

Compose a hamper yourself from the ground floor rather than buying pre-packed — the assembly is the pleasure, and the wicker basket outlives its contents by years.