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.
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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.