IT’S sales time and Glasgow shoppers were being urged to splash the cash back in 1956 when Birss’ of Partick put the signs all over their windows.
The company’s shops in Dumbarton Road, which were either side of the junction with Gardner Street, were very popular with the West End public.
The stores sold a wide variety of goods, from carpets to fabrics, from beds to clothes, with school wear being one of the firm’s strong sales areas. It carried stock for more than 20 Glasgow schools. And you could also buy greetings cards, small electrical items and ornaments.
The firm had been set up in 1905 by James Birss, who teamed up with a Mr Mitchell and they had stores in Dumbarton Road, Victoria Road and Kirkcaldy, trading as Mitchell and Birss.
The Fife shop did not last long and when they two men split up Mr Mitchell took over the Victoria Road store, with Mr Birss keeping the Partick shop.
Of the nine Birss children, Alex, John and George went into the business and kept it going in later years.
There are still many shops in the West End, but Birss’ of Partick is not one of them. Like many other well-known Glasgow stores its name has slipped into memory lane.

Glasgow Times:

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