We visit Modern Love, a new independent business to open in Glasgow City Centre

National World - LocalTV

With the rapid death of the high street there are still some businesses plunging through. We speak to Sarah who has managed to make her independent gift shop succeed.

Transcript

00:00Hi, I'm Sarah from Shawlands and this is my shop, Modern Love Store.

00:05It's at 8 Parney Street in the Trongate area of the city.

00:08I've got loads of good neighbours round here and it's a good wee place for a mooch.

00:12And it's right next to Glasgow Green.

00:14It's a home and gift shop that's all kind of colourful, fun, quirky little bits

00:18from mostly around Europe, America and some local artists and people in the UK.

00:25Well, it started actually in 2020 in lockdown because I worked in music events

00:31and they were banned because of the restrictions and stuff.

00:34But my house is a wee bit like this.

00:36So I spoke to two of my pals and said,

00:39would you buy this stuff if I imported it from Holland and Denmark?

00:43And they said yes.

00:44And then they ended up coming on board and helping me out at the start.

00:47So we had a wee place in the Cooperage in the south side at one point.

00:51But then after lockdown, they went back to work and wasn't really doing anything.

00:56And then I had a lot of stock and someone I know worked at the Barras

01:01and she said, do you want to come and open a stall down here?

01:04And I was like, yeah, why not?

01:06So I went to the Barras and I was there for about two years.

01:09I like this area of town.

01:10I always thought it was like cool and just a bit quirky and nice buildings and stuff.

01:15And there wasn't really much happening.

01:16The rents were quite cheap.

01:18So I just bit the bullet and took the plunge and opened the shop.

01:22Well, I think people like coming into a shop to see stuff,

01:26to touch it, to feel it and just to have a wee mooch.

01:29Like you don't necessarily know what you want.

01:31I personally don't really like shopping online.

01:34There's far too much choice.

01:36I feel like it's like an endless scroll.

01:38But in the city centre in Glasgow, there is a lack of independent businesses.

01:42I think the general public in Glasgow so far have been really supportive of the shop

01:45and a lot of people know me from the Barras.

01:47And if you go to the big high street shops, it's all the same.

01:49Like the shops in town are the same as the ones at Silverburn.

01:52They are the same as the one at the Fort.

01:54All the shops are the same.

01:55You could be in Liverpool.

01:56You could be in Manchester.

01:57You could be anywhere.

01:58But it's all the wee independent shops that make a city unique.

02:01And quite a lot of people that live in like the south side and the west end these days

02:04don't really leave.

02:05So I was a bit nervous about that.

02:07Like will people still come into town?

02:09And quite often when you're online, you see people just talking Glasgow city centre down a lot.

02:13But actually it's been brilliant.

02:15And the amount of tourists in Glasgow is unbelievable.

02:17Like the amount of people coming now for city breaks from elsewhere in the UK or from abroad.

02:22Like you know, people from Berlin, people from Paris.

02:25And loads of people come to Glasgow for gigs, which is good.

02:27See when there's big gigs on, that's really made an impact on the shop.

02:30Like especially when Charli XCX was playing.

02:32I wish she played every day.

02:34And I like this street.

02:35It's got a bit of character.

02:37It just looks nice with like the railway line there.

02:40And like that pet shop's been there for like over 100 years.

02:43It's just got some old businesses.

02:45And my Nana used to always talk about Parney Street in the 50s.

02:48It seemed like it was the place to be.

02:50So again I felt like it was a good fit for me.

02:54And the shop was the number 8, which is my lucky number.

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