IT would be wrong to say his career has turned full circle. But there was certainly a homecoming of sorts for retail veteran Vince Gunn when he came to Glasgow this week.

The Glasgow-born and raised chief executive of sofa.com ventured north from London to oversee the launch of the upmarket furniture retailer’s showroom in Finnieston on Thursday. It is the Chelsea-based company’s second outlet in Scotland, joining its showroom in Edinburgh, and seventh overall. And the Finnieston shop is sofa.com’s biggest to date, spanning nearly 8,000 square feet in a former auction house on St Vincent Crescent.

Mr Gunn, who cut his teeth in the family greengrocer and florist business, McDonald & Murdoch, derives obvious satisfaction in bringing to sofa.com to the city.

“Of course I am biased being a Glaswegian,” he said. “But I am genuinely excited. You probably couldn’t get a friendlier group of people than Glaswegians. That is what we believe sets us apart.”

It is 30 years since Mr Gunn left Glasgow behind to embark on a high-flying career, which began when he joined the Marks & Spencer management training programme. That prefaced a host of leadership roles with The Body Shop, Thomson Travel, Mothercare and, most recently, Crocs Europe.

But although Glasgow has not been home to Mr Gunn for three decades, family ties and business interests ensure the intervals between visits are never too long.

That he has been on the board of Pagazzi, the Uddingston-based lighting specialist, for the last 12 years has meant he always has an “excuse to come home”.

“It’s great for me, because you still get connected with the language, [and] the humour,” Mr Gunn said.“You’re also connected with what’s happening in the local business community. I’ve always liked being involved with bigger and smaller companies.”

And there is plenty of experience in Mr Gunn’s rich CV that Pagazzi can presumably tap into.

Reading through his biography there is a clear sense that each move he has made since leaving Scotland in the mid-1980s has been carefully orchestrated.

At M&S he was among only nine out of 200 trainees to be fast-tracked on to the management programme, and went on to lead its flagship Marble Arch store – then turning over £200 million in its own right – for three years.

After the “privilege” of spending five years with the retail giant, he switched horses to the significantly more entrepreneurial Body Shop.

Working directly for its late founder Anita Roddick, he ultimately led the UK arm of the business which at the time had 270 stores and turned over £190m.

From there he went to Thomson Travel Group in a conscious move to understand a new sector, with his time there coinciding with its acquisition by TUI. But it wasn’t long before the “speed of pure play retail” tempted him to join Mothercare, which at the time was undergoing structural change of its own. He also took up the opportunity to develop his digital knowhow by chairing Mankind Beauty Expert, an “etail” business later sold to the Hut group.

By this stage of his career Mr Gunn had fulfilled many of his goals. But he still harboured an ambition to work abroad, so when the chance came to become managing director of Crocs Europe in October 2014, he jumped at it. Based in Amsterdam, he was responsible for overseeing a $250m business which sold into 50 markets.

Ultimately his decision to leave Crocs was driven to an extent by family reasons, with GCSEs beginning to loom on the horizon for his son.

“Don’t get me wrong, leaving Amsterdam was heart-breaking – it will always have a soft spot for me,” Mr Gunn said. “It was a fabulous place to live, but we had educational needs to think about and other factors came together for me.”

His next port of call was sofa.com, where he berthed last October. Asked what attracted him to the business, which private equity group CBPE acquired in a deal reportedly worth up to £50m last year, Mr Gunn cited the potential of the brand. He also highlighted the opportunity to work with chairman Justin Stead, former chief executive of Aurum Holdings, the firm behind Mappin & Webb, Goldsmiths and Watches of Switzerland.

Sofa.com, which has showrooms in Chelsea, Islington and Bankside in London, was established in 2006 by Rohan Blacker, who remains on the board, and the late Pat Reeves.

“I just thought there is a really special brand here that is truly innovative[and] pioneering,” Mr Gunn said. “I love the people I have met at sofa.com. I like the CPB private equity people, and I’ve known the senior partner for 15 years but the stars hadn’t really aligned before.”

Now the sofa.com store portfolio numbers seven, each housed in distinctive properties and characterised by signature sofa.com touches such as a bar and children’s area.

So, apart from a nice glass of Prosecco and a warm welcome for the family – dogs and all – what can consumers in Glasgow expect? Fundamentally, Mr Gunn said, sofa.com aims to make the process of buying a suite as smooth as possible. “When we get people to have the experience, they really do tend to stay.

“We’re trying to build a sense of community.”