One of Glasgow’s best-known retailers Forrest Furnishing has been sold to larger rival Sterling Furniture in a deal that creates a £60million independent business employing 600.

Forrest began life as a corner shop in the Whiteinch area of Glasgow and has been run since 1972 by Ken Forrest, son of the founder David, who has stepped down aged 68.

Forrest recently reported a huge leap in profits after selling its Macdonald Furniture Galleries showroom on Cathedral Street. The retailer booked a £3.5m profit on the sale of the site, which was demolished to make way for new student accommodation. It had run the showroom for nearly 30 years.

The proceeds were used to refurbish and extend Forrest’s single site showroom on South Street and all staff transferred there.

Six weeks ago on publishing the company’s results, Ken Forrest said trade had not dropped overall despite losing the Cathedral Street site, and while it had “always been in the back of our minds to expand...we're happy to concentrate on the single site”.

But he also noted that there had been a slowdown in the three or four weeks prior to the EU referendum, and trading had become “ a little bit more difficult”.

Sterling was founded in 1974 when George Knowles opened a US-style showroom, first of its kind in Scotland, in a disused mill at Tillicoultry.

His son George Knowles Jnr took over the firm in 1985 when he was only 23 and embarked on growing the business with new stores in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Carlisle, Ayr, Uddingston and Inverness. The father of four sadly died of a heart attack while jet-skiing in Majorca in 2003 at the age of 41.

But Sterling’s headquarters had become famously identified as “near Stirling” in a long-running TV advertising campaign voiced by broadcaster and Knowles family friend Dougie Donnelly.

Sterling now employs over 530 and hiked its sales by 12 per cent to £50m of last year, when despite the challenging economy it lifted profits by 150 per cent to £2m. It has nine stores across Scotland and opened an interior design hub in its flagship stores last year.

Managing director Gordon Mearns confirmed at the weekend that the deal had gone through and that he was “delighted” to have concluded it. He said Forrest’s managing director Graham Spurr would “continue to run the business as Forrest Furnishings and as an independent retailer”.

Forrest employs 65 and lifted its turnover from £8.2m to £8.8m last year.

Sterling, a pioneer of out-of-town shopping, invested £500,000 in revamping its cafe at Tillicoultry last year, in an effort to keep shoppers on site for longer. The 208-seat Mill Cafe offers a family dining area with a play space and interactive areas for children.

Mr Mearns said at the time: "A superior café offering is more important now than ever in retail destinations like ours in Tillicoultry."

Last November Sterling joined major retailers in writing a letter to The Herald warning that stores may have to shed jobs in Scotland unless business rates were overhauled.