When this building opened in 1929, it was home to the Times Furnishing Company and promotional material from that time gave it the personna of a pleasure palace for shoppers.  The Times company was begun by the entrepreneur John Jacobs and much of its business was based on the "hire-purchase" model that encouraged people to "furnish now and pay later".  It was a phenomenon of a time in the late 1920s and 1930s when there was a rapid expansion of owner-occupied housing.  Large numbers of working-class people buying new houses and moving out of rented accommodation meant there was a demand for complete re-furnishing.

 

While the High Holborn store was something of a flagship venue, the company had numerous other outlets as you can see in the image below taken from a contemporary advertisement.

 

https://manchesterhistory.net/architecture/1920/timesfurniture.html

See more here: https://moda.mdx.ac.uk/object/badda208/

https://moda.mdx.ac.uk/object/badda513/