FROM Second City of the British Empire to second city of Scotland, Glasgow’s decline has been slow and painful. It’s been a long time since it was the workshop of the world but, in recent years, the city fathers (and mothers) comforted themselves by promoting it as the best shopping centre outwith London.
It was a pretty hollow boast which the post-pandemic world has brutally exposed but the truth is that the big shops model was broken long before Covid, mainly by the rise in online shopping.
Today, a walk down Sauchiehall or Argyle Street can be a dispiriting experience. Shuttered shops, graffiti and litter don’t exactly shout shopping paradise.
A roll call of the big names which have left the city centre sounds like a Proclaimers song: Debenhams, no more. BHS, no more. Top Shop, no more. Watt Brothers, no more.
Meanwhile, 40 miles away, Edinburgh is sitting pretty. It’s always been the tourism and financial centre, and its restaurants and bars have been bolstered by our MSPs’ expense accounts for the last two decades, but now it can claim to be a better shopping destination than Glasgow.
When Johnnie Walker wanted to launch their new £150m eight-floor ‘experience’ where did they go? Kilmarnock? Glasgow? Don’t be silly, Edinburgh.
Now high profile shops such as Pull & Bear, Bershka and Stradivarius have chosen the capital for their prestige locations.
The St James Quarter may be just another shopping centre but its Bonnie & Wild food hall offers a range that Glasgow can’t match in one place.
So what’s the answer? Is it to continue to rely on multinational chains which can pull out overnight or is it to nurture a unique Glasgow experience?
We hear that word a lot nowadays: experience. And it usually comes with its bosom buddy, authenticity.
But they are more than buzz words. Let’s look at a fairly recent success story. Finnieston has bloomed on the back of its bars and restaurants. When you are drinking in the Ben Nevis or The Park Bar or eating in the Ox and Finch or The Gannet, you are in Glasgow. Having an authentic Glasgow experience. One that you couldn’t have elsewhere.
You are not in a chain, run from the south of England, with no interest in fostering local suppliers. Worse, one where the profits are sent away, never to be seen, or reinvested in the city.
And retail is the same. Of course there will always be a place for the big-name stores but if you want to make your city’s shopping experience special who have to nurture the local districts and independent shops to make it memorable. Meld shopping and eating and drinking and arts and culture together and you have a vibrant city. Something special.
And Glasgow is special. Its people are special – and they will be the ones that turn the city’s fortunes around.
Oh, aye, and a good spruce up wouldn’t go amiss either.
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