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.
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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.