9 pictures which tell story of famous Glasgow department store

Glasgow Times

24-05-2025

For decades, Pettigrew and Stephens occupied a prominent chunk of Sauchiehall Street in the city centre.
The store opened in 1888, when Glasgow drapers Andrew Hislop Pettigrew and William Henry Stephens entered into partnership.
It expanded and developed over the years, and by the 1920s, the premises stretched from Sauchiehall Street to Bath Street, along West Campbell Street – where a gym and the entrance to Sauchiehall Street car park is now.
The Bath street entrance to Pettigrew & Stephens, 1923 (Image: Glasgow City Archives)
There is a connection to Charles Rennie Mackintosh too. On early designs, when the building was expanding to include a new tearoom and marble stairs, his notes appear on drawings by the firm he worked for, John Honeyman & Keppie.
Some of the later features seem to echo other examples of his work, too, particularly in the tearoom, though he is not credited as a designer on the plans.
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By the early 1900s, the seven-storey shop was the biggest department store in Scotland, and drawing in legions of shoppers.
You could buy almost anything - clothes, millinery, confectionery, carpets, furniture, ironmongery and china.
School uniform display... (Image: Glasgow City Archives)
It was also the place to shop for school uniform, and the giant window displays would be full of smartly-blazered mannequins and ties of all colours as the summer holidays drew to a close.
It was high-tech, too, with an electric lift, sprinklers and a pneumatic tube system for sending cash between counters and the central office.
The tearooms were on the second floor, beautifully designed and decorated, the perfect place for ladies who lunched in between bouts of shopping.
In 1926, Pettigrew and Stephens was acquired by the Scottish Drapery Corporation which in turn was acquired by House of Fraser in the 1950s. The building was completely demolished in 1971 for the Sauchiehall Street Centre shopping complex.
(Image: Newsquest)
This woman on the left, who is a 'Lux washability consultant', was at the store in May 1938 to provide some free advice on the washing of fine fabrics.
(Image: Newsquest)
In September 1939, as war began across Europe, Pettigrew and Stephens took some precautions against the potential for flying glass and debris in its Sauchiehall Street store.
(Image: Newsquest)
In 1950, sales still brought people out in force. This picture, taken on Tuesday, January 3, shows shoppers waiting more or less patiently in the cold and rain for the doors to open at Pettigrew and Stephens.
Hat sale at Pettigrew & Stephens (Image: Newsquest)
Exactly a year to the day later, the New Year sales kicked off in style as shoppers flocked to pick up a bargain.
(Image: Newsquest)
Five year old Jimmy Paterson tries on a new coat at the Pettigrew and Stephens sale in 1956.
(Image: Newsquest)
Four-year-old Kay McAleney, from Coatbridge, makes friends with a cuddly Pluto as Christmas shopping begins in the store in December, 1955.
The store was lit up with lights and fancy decorations.
Do you remember Pettigrew and Stephens? Send us your memories and photos by email to [e-mail] or write to Ann Fotheringham, Glasgow Times, 125 Fullarton Drive, Glasgow G32 8FG.