Building a retail institution in Glasgow: Dee’s Menswear in Trongate

Dee’s Menswear has been a staple of Glasgow’s retail culture for over 60 years.

Transcript

00:00 If anybody's looking for Dees, they just have to say, "I'm looking for that wee shop."

00:05 Well, my name is Trez and I'm the director of the company, Dees Menswear.

00:10 Dees was started by Mr. David. He started the business in 1951.

00:18 And we had five shops at that time.

00:21 It caters for a mixture of people that come in here, from mods, skinheads, rockers, you name it.

00:29 We get it all. Dees is known as that wee shop.

00:33 And as soon as you say that, a lot of people say, "Oh, I know the shop you're talking about. It's Dees."

00:37 Yeah, so it's a bit of an institution in Glasgow. Everybody knows it.

00:41 And it's nice when you get older people bringing in their grandchildren and saying to their grandchildren,

00:47 "You know, I used to shop here when I was your age."

00:50 And they've started shopping in here.

00:52 So we've got a vast array of customers that come in different ages.

00:57 We've got quite a few famous faces in here.

01:00 Marte Pello, he came in here when my son was about ten, I think he was, or eight, maybe eight or ten.

01:09 And Marte Pello, he came down and he caused quite a stir because a lot of people recognised him

01:14 when they were coming into the shop.

01:16 The Water Boys were in here.

01:20 Yellowstone from Canada, I think they're, America.

01:25 Quite a few actors as well came in here.

01:29 It's great fun when they come in because they're just so natural, so down to earth.

01:32 And as soon as they come in, it's like, "Wow, you know, where did this place come from?"

01:37 It's just a completely different experience shopping here.

01:40 We've built our reputation over the years.

01:43 It's just great teamwork, great camaraderie with the customers that come in.

01:48 And we do sell things exclusive to us. You can't get them anywhere.

01:53 And when the manager is buying, he buys maybe nine pieces of different things.

01:59 So the chances of seeing somebody with the same thing on as you is very, very, chances are next to null, you know.

02:07 So we do offer things that you can't get anywhere.

02:11 So if somebody's looking for something special, something different, they know to come here.

02:15 And we're very, very competitive with our prices, which I think is a great thing as well.

02:20 We've got to encourage people to come down to this end of the town because it's no longer, footfall's no longer what it was.

02:27 When people were passing, they'd go down to the barrows, you know, and then on the way back up to the town, you know,

02:34 they'd always stop in and have a look and buy things.

02:37 But the footfall's gone now because the barrows has changed so much.

02:41 I think fashion to Glasgow is a big thing. I think it's a major thing, especially in the mod scene.

02:47 They like to dress a particular way and we stock everything for that particular person.