Top department store Harvey Nichols is opening a store in Glasgow.

The celeb-fave shop – nicknamed Harvey Nicks – is moving into the newly-revamped St Enoch Centre in time for Christmas.

However, the store will only be a ‘pop-up’ shop which will trade from October 9 until December 31.

Though retailers often use temporary stores to test the market ahead of launching a full-scale shop, the company says it has no plans for a proper store in the city.

The shop will be located in the new section of the mall in a unit currently home to Wheels of Sport, which will move upstairs.

It will sell luxury Christmas gifts and the firm’s own food products including festive hampers which start at £15 and go up to a purse-busting £3000.

Kitchenwear and a selection of wines and spirits will also be on offer – and customers will also be able to order products from the Edinburgh store to be delivered the next day.

Gordon Drummond, director of Harvey Nichols Regional Stores Ltd, said: “We are extremely excited about this project, it is a new venture for us and to launch it in the heart of Glasgow at the St Enoch Centre is fantastic.”

It will be the first time Harvey Nicks, which is famous for its designer labels, will have opened a pop-up store in a city where it doesn’t already have a main shop.

Susan Nicol, general manager at St Enoch Centre, said: “We’re thrilled to welcome Harvey Nichols, one of the UK’s leading retail brands, to St Enoch.

“Its introduction to the centre will add another new dimension to St. Enoch’s Christmas shopping experience.

“The response to our £150million refurbishment from Glasgow shoppers has been tremendous and there’s no doubt that our ability to attract a host of quality brands has been a big factor in that success.”

The arrival of the upmarket retailer in the city comes as a boost for the retail scene, six months after bosses of similar London-based store Selfridges were branded “one big sorry let down” after saying they have no plans to open in the city despite hanging onto a site in Merchant City for nearly a decade.

Plans were unveiled in 2002 for a £90m Selfridges on the derelict former Goldberg’s site in Candleriggs. But after years of silence, bosses declared in March: “We’re not going to open a bricks and mortar store in Glasgow,” and the huge site is set to become a car park.

However, a Glasgow City Council insider maintains it is still in discussions with the firm over a store in the city.

The phenomenon of ‘pop-up’ shops have become popular over the last few years, with firms often setting up in unusual or out of the way venues.

A champagne bar even popped up last year at Hutchesons’ Hall in Ingram Street for five days only.

Some pop-up ventures trade from units which recession-hit landlords want to rent out temporarily, while others move into unusual locations for a brief period to create a buzz or to test a market.

The new Harvey Nicks will have four or five full time staff, and the company says it is looking for “fashionistas with a passion for food”. They are set to be recruited at a special jobs event which starts today.

Hundreds of other new retail jobs are also up for grabs at the St Enoch Working event, a partnership between St. Enoch Centre, Glasgow’s Regeneration Agencies, Glasgow Works, Jobcentre Plus and Skills Development Scotland.

Job hunters can apply for 250 roles at stores including Hamleys, Debenhams, Game, Bhs and H&M. Last year 3000 people attended a similar event.

It runs from noon until 7pm today and 11am until 4pm on Friday. Jobhunters should register at the St Enoch Working Shop unit on the upper level of the centre.

Stuart Patrick, Glasgow Chamber of Commerce chief executive, said: “This latest and very welcome Glasgow retail boost is another indication of the city’s ability to attract the very best High Street names from across the UK.

“We’ve worked hard to earn the title – as cited by CACI and Experian – of the UK’s best shopping destination bar London, however we know that we can’t afford to stand still.

“The arrival of Harvey Nichols shows that there is no danger of that happening and further enhances the city’s Style Mile.”

Ab Fab store is a magnet for A-listers and pop stars

Harvey Nichols’ flagship London store has traded in Knightsbridge since the 1880s.

It grew out of a linen shop opened by Benjamin Harvey.

In 1820 he passed the business on to his daughter, who went into partnership with Colonel Nichols to also add Oriental carpets, silks and luxury goods to the shelves.

A Scottish store opened in Edinburgh in 2002.

The firm also has branches in Leeds, Bimingham, Manchester, Dublin and Bristol as well as outlets in Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Dubai, Istanbul, and Jakarta.

The show was immortalised in the BBC comedy Absolutely Fabulous as the place where zany fashionistas Eddy and Patsy, played by Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley, loved to shop.

TV retail guru Mary Portas, from BBC’s Mary Queen of Shops is credited with turning around the fortunes of the Knightsbridge shop in the 1990s, largely by creating must-see window displays.

Regular customers include Beyonce, Kylie Minogue, TV host Alexa Chung, It Girls Peaches and Pixie Geldof as well as footballers such as Robinho, designer Marc Jacobs, singer Beth Ditto actress Mischa Barton and model Erin O’Connor.