The news this week that high street retailer BHS had collapsed into administration, putting 11,000 jobs at risk and threatening the closure of up to 164 stores is the biggest retail failure since Woolworths went bust in 2008. 

Glasgow Times:

It serves as a stark reminder of the decline of the department stores that once dominated the retail landscape of Glasgow's high streets. 

Pettigrew & Stephens

Location: Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow

Glasgow Times:

The company was founded in 1888 as Pettigrew & Stephens. The store sold a wide range of goods, including clothes, millinery, confectionery, carpets, furniture, ironmongery and china.

Glasgow Times:

In 1914, it was massively extended becoming the largest department store in Scotland.

Glasgow Times:

In 1926, Pettigrew & Stephens Ltd was acquired by the Scottish Drapery Corporation Ltd, a management holding company, of Edinburgh. In 1952, the Scottish Drapery Corporation Ltd and its subsidiaries were acquired by House of Fraser Ltd.

Glasgow Times:

In 1955, Pettigrew & Stephens Ltd went into voluntary liquidation and its business was merged with House of Fraser Ltd.

Arnotts

Locations: Argyle Street and Jamiaca Street, Glasgow

Glasgow Times:

Arnott-Simpson Ltd was incorporated in February 1938. It was the result of the merger of Robert Simpson & Sons Ltd, drapers, of Glasgow, and Arnott & Co Ltd, drapers, of Glasgow, both of which had been acquired by Fraser Sons & Co Ltd, drapers, of Glasgow, in 1936.

Glasgow Times:

In 1938, the two stores in Jamaica Street were joined together and the site between Jamaica Street and Argyle Street, which adjoined the two stores, was reconstructed.

Glasgow Times:

In 1947, following the liquidation of Fraser, Sons & Co Ltd, Arnott-Simpson Ltd, together with other assets of Fraser, Sons & Co Ltd, was transferred to House of Fraser Ltd, although the name Arnott-Simpsons continued to be used.

Goldbergs

Locations: Glasgow, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Ayr, Paisley, Kirkcaldy, Motherwell, Dundee, Kilmarnock, Airdrie, Dunfermline, East Kilbride and Greencok

Glasgow Times:

A. Goldberg and Sons plc was a Scottish retail organisation which, prior to its demise in 1990, had grown from a single Glasgow store in 1908 to a chain of over 100 outlets across the UK. 

Glasgow Times:

In the 1970s A. Goldberg & Sons became the first retailer in Europe to introduce a comprehensive electronic point of sale (EPoS) system (an IBM system that was in place until 1987).

Glasgow Times:

Until that time all sales transactions were recorded in day-books, an operation which involved having 500 bookkeepers. 

A. Goldberg & Sons developed its own in-house credit agreement called the Style card. Style was launched at the beginning of 1982 and followed the lead of other credit cards with no interest incurred for prompt monthly payment. Style card was eventually taken over by the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Glasgow Times:

Goldbergs went into receivership and ceased trading in 1990 having suffered losses of £10 million.

The flagship Glasgow store on Candleriggs was acquired by entrepreneurs Vera and Gerald Weisfeld in 1994 and reopened as discount clothes store Weisfelds in a similar concept to their previous business, What Everyone Wants.

This store closed in 1999 and the site subsequently fell into dereliction.

Glasgow Times:

The building was partially demolished in 2002 following the collapse of an adjacent tenement due to unstable foundations. The site was acquired by Selfridges, but plans for the company to build its first Scottish store on the site were shelved in 2007.

The proposals were formally abandoned in May 2014, when Selfridges sold the site to a private developer.