TENS of thousands of pieces of clothing have been delivered, pressed and placed neatly on the shop floor - and that's just at Forever 21.

This is Buchanan Quarter, Glasgow's newest retail area, providing more than 200 jobs in the city.

The £70m shopping mall was due to open its doors today with a fanfare and gold streamers shooting over Glasgow's top shopping street.

Miss Scotland Nicole Treacy, wearing a paper dress, was given the honour of taking the wraps off the centre, opposite Buchanan Galleries.

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also welcomed the new development which will also include 49 flats with their own 'sky garden', gym and residents' lounge.

As well as the 61,000sq ft of US fashion chain Forever 21, high street favourites Fat Face, Gap, Skechers, Office and Paperchase, will also open their doors.

Construction workers, shop fitters, decorators and visual merchandisers are just a handful of the people working 12 hours a day to make sure everything is in place for today's launch.

Forever 21 is the undoubted giant of the new retail quarter.

Workers have crammed 200,000 items of clothing and accessories onto three floors – and their store room – to make sure shoppers are being offered the best new styles on the high street.

Bosses have hired 160 members of staff, who have been making sure every floor and window display is perfect.

Stephanie Nicholson, 24, a visual merchandiser who lives in Glasgow's South Side, said: "We've been making sure all the mannequins are ready to show the best of our clothes.

"All the staff are really excited at the prospect of getting started."

The sanded wood and freshly painted walls are gleaming in Fat Face, which relocated from Queen Street, after a decade there.

The chain's flagship store, which includes a women's, men's and chi ldren's section over two floors has employed 23 people.

Area manager Raylin Noble said: "When we were in Queen Street customers would come in and say they were happy to see us open, but I'd have to tell them we'd been there 10 years.

"So this is the right location for us to get noticed and we're ready for the job.

"You wouldn't believe the amount of work that's gone into getting this ready.

"We've had people here from 7am until 11pm making sure it's right."

Store manager Rachel McCabe, 31, added: "It is a massive opportunity for us.

"I think we have something different to offer Glasgow and we're so excited to be part of something."

Next door in American brand Skechers there was a similar feeling of anticipation and excitement yesterday as shop staff hurried to mount the graphics and arrange the hundreds of shoes on display.

At 2500sq ft, the shop is the brand's first stand-alone store in Scotland and has taken on 17 new staff.

Manager Rhea Kerr, 22, who has been with the firm for five years, said: "We've got 12,000 pairs of shoes in our store room upstairs and loads on display.

"We had to carry them all up the stairs in shoeboxes.

"That's the sort of effort that's going in to making everything right for the opening."