TWO gift shops in one of Scotland's main shopping thoroughfares have come under fire for selling and displaying golliwog dolls in their windows.

Cards and Gifts, and Party, which sit opposite each other in Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow both have window displays featuring the controversial dolls.

The black dolls have oversized red lips, black frizzy hair and are wearing traditional minstrel clothing.

In both shops they are displayed next to other children’s toys and Christmas decorations.

Members of the public and anti-racism groups have hit out at the shops for displaying and selling the items.

One city resident said: “It’s ridiculous in 2015 that people are still selling these things.

“They’re very offensive and I’m sure I’m not the only person to have noticed it.

“To not know they are a racist symbol is baffling...And I doubt anyone would buy one anyway.”

Nicola Hay, campaign Manager at Show Racism the Red Card Scotland, said: “We are deeply saddened to hear of this.

“Golliwogs are demeaning racist caricatures rendering black people as submissive and lesser.

“SRtRC are against the buying and selling of golliwogs as they hark back to a time when mockery and stereotyping of black people was considered acceptable.

“In today’s more enlightened times such items really have no place.”

Janit Haria, executive director at the Glasgow-based Centre for Racial Equality and Rights, said he would urge the shop owner to “reconsider the decision to stock these items as if they were just ordinary toys.”

He said: “The debate about whether the golliwog is a racist stereotype that domesticates prejudice, or simply a child’s nursery character, has been raging since the 1950s.

“But there is no dispute over their origins – created by Florence Kate Upton in 1895 who described her invented character as “a horrid sight, the blackest gnome”.

“She clothed her golliwogs in the same apparel as the black-faced minstrels then prevalent in Europe and North America, with thick lips, unruly black hair, and paws instead of hands and feet.

“And ever since then, they have been used as an offensive racist caricature of Black people...”

The manager of Cards and Gifts confirmed the two shops had the same owner, and said he understood the dolls may be offensive to some people but added they had the right to sell them.

The man, who would not give his name when asked, said: “Now they are available in big warehouses, we have permission to sell them...They’re sold in markets.

“I understand [why they might be offensive] but now they can be sold and that’s why we have them.

“It’s not my decision to sell them or not.”

He also said the dolls had been popular, and added: “A lot of people buy them.”

In the summer, three secondary school pupils 'blacked up' as golliwogs for Wick's gala in Caithness.

The incident sparked a debate on social media and led to the trio being spoken to by police. They were not charged.

The youngsters were shown with black curly wigs, and black faces with white around their eyes in the images which were circulated on Facebook and Twitter. All were wearing distinctive red, blue, white and black costumes.