The battle for the title of Glasgow’s Favourite Business is hotting up.
With only a week to go before voting closes, there has never been a more important time to make your vote count.
The title, sponsored by the Evening Times, has six high-profile contenders.
We have already put four in the spotlight – Fratelli Sarti, Greaves Sports, Barrhead Travel and Fopp – and today we look at the final two: the St Enoch Centre and Dumbreck Decorators.
Glasgow’s Favourite Business is part of the Glasgow Business Awards, which are run by the city’s Chamber of Commerce. They will be held at the Thistle Hotel on October 7.
The lead sponsor is the Bank Of Scotland, while the Evening Times is media partner. The Favourite Business category is voted for by our readers.
When the St Enoch Centre opened 21 years ago, Glasgow was a lot different to the city we know today.
The 1990 Year Of Culture was still a few months away and Glasgow’s reputation as the best place for shopping in the UK outwith London was a long way off.
Yet it was the opening of the St Enoch Centre in May 1989 that kick-started the retail regeneration that continues to this day.
For a time the centre thrived, and co-existed with Princes Square in Buchanan Street, but in the late 1990s St Enoch was hit by the arrival of Buchanan Galleries and Braehead Shopping Centre.
This was not the best of eras for St Enoch and it suffered a decline in its fortunes.
But in 2005 it was bought by Ivanhoe Cambridge, a specialist in retail destinations that recognised the value in developing what Susan Nicol, the centre’s general manager, terms as “the last large piece of retail real estate in the city centre”.
The first phase of a £150million redevelopment opened last November, and within a month St Enoch had broken all its previous customer records, attracting up to 500,000 shoppers a week.
That success story, complete with new names such as Hamleys and H&M, and a 720-seat food court equipped with wi-fi, has continued.
The eye-catching ‘glass box’ entrance on the corner of Argyle Street and St Enoch Square has become a landmark.
Anne Ledgerwood, the centre’s marketing director, says: “Getting Hamleys was a major boost for the centre.
“Redevelopment was expensive, but it simply reflects shoppers’ higher aspirations. When you come in, it has to look the part.
“But it is not just a case of looking the part. It is about getting the delivery of everything right.
“The retailers have to be right and the staff need to be what people want today ... ultra-polite and ultra-helpful.
“We thought of changing the name at one point, but we found there was a great deal of loyalty and affection towards the current name.
“They told us, ‘Don’t change the name, but make the place better’.”
Which is what has been achieved – and that is why the centre has been nominated for the title of Glasgow’s Favourite Business.
- Doctor Who actress Karen Gillan will be in Hamleys tomorrow from noon-2pm for her first in-store signing event.
Three years ago, the Princess Royal said she would like to visit Chatelherault, the 18th century hunting lodge of the Dukes of Hamilton.
As it was going to mean a major royal visit, bosses at South Lanarkshire Council, which manages the venue, asked Dumbreck Decorators, of Cessnock, Glasgow, to redo the house’s key historic rooms and visitor centre.
It was a complicated job, involving detailed cornice work, multi-coloured surfaces and the need to keep to the original colour scheme. And it all had to be done within 10 days.
The work was completed, and Princess Anne liked what she saw when she visited Chatelherault.
“That was an interesting job,” says Brendan Keenan, 62, Dumbreck’s private works estimator.
The firm was started by Mr Keenan and wife Roz in 1973.
“We built it up over the next 25 years and employed around 30 people, and bought another company in 1989,” he says.
“We sold it to an Edinburgh company 10 years ago, but both of us are still here as part of the management, although on a part-time basis. We have not been able to walk away from it.”
Dumbreck, which employs 70 painters in Glasgow, as well as 15 apprentices, specialises in high-profile redecorating projects and ordinary domestic jobs, such as kitchens and living rooms.”
Its better-known customers include Princes Square and the upmarket Mar Hall, at Bishopton, Renfrewshire.
One of Dumbreck Decorators’ supervisors recently drove to Strathdon, Aberdeenshire, to hang hand-made silk wallpaper in a house occupied by Billy Connolly’s next-door neighbour.
“The occupants apparently lend their garden when Billy hosts friends attending the nearby Lonach Gathering and Highland Games,” says Mr Keenan.
“We did One Devonshire Gardens when it opened 26 years ago and also Loch Lomond Golf Club when it opened. The SECC is a regular customer.
“It’s a point of pride with us that we have done 45 churches, of all denominations, in the last 10 years.
“Five years ago we won a Best in Britain award for our work at St Aloysius’ RC Church in Garnethill. We now have a team in the city’s St Andrew’s Cathedral.”
The company has an annual turnover of about £6million and Mr Keenan adds: “We are delighted to have been nominated for the title of Glasgow’s Favourite Business after all this time – and we’re flattered too.”
- Craig McNaughton, west Scotland area director at Bank Of Scotland, said: “All the companies nominated for a Glasgow Business Award have made a big contribution to the city’s commercial landscape.
“The ceremony is an opportunity for the best to be recognised for their achievements in many areas, including staff relations, marketing and customer service.
“With a wide range of industries and sectors represented, Glasgow is one of the premier business locations in Scotland and the awards are a showcase for the city’s business talent.
“Bank Of Scotland’s continued sponsorship of the awards reiterates our commitment to supporting Glasgow’s businesses, and we would like to wish all nominees the best of luck.”
- www.glasgowbusiness awards.org
E-mail your vote to news@eveningtimes.co.uk, with “Favourite Business” in the subject field, or send it by post to Glasgow’s Favourite Business, Evening Times, 200 Renfield Street, Glasgow, G2 3QB. The deadline for votes is September 3.
