ScottishNews.com

There are two aspects to this story, the big picture view of what this says about the direction of our city centres, and the smaller, more personal picture around the impact businesses like Greaves Sports have on those who worked and shopped there.

I worked there for five years as communications director, a job they weren’t advertising for that I completely made up. Because in 2009 when I was fed up with my old agency, I pitched an idea to Sandy Greaves and, without blinking, he backed me.

Over the next five years I witnessed firsthand the blood, sweat and tears it takes to run a retail business in the online age, at a time city centres were first beginning to morph into out of town retail parks with parking meters, while local independent retailers were expected to compete against major chains with zero support or vision from our political leaders.

I also saw the care and attention to detail that comes from having your name above the door, in a business owned by people from the city they serve.

There’s been some lovely media and social media coverage of the Greaves news this week, so many people with their own stories of what Greaves meant to them

Like most kids from around here, I bought my football boots from Greaves.

Eventually, when I joined the business, it felt like being a kid in a, well, sports shop, surrounded by equipment from every sport you could imagine, and signed memorabilia gifted by the sporting greats to Sandy, his son Miller and the rest of the family and staff.

Sandy, a private and modest man, probably won’t like this piece but I write it from the safety that he’s unlikely to read it and will instead be doing some ‘real life’ things like walking the dogs or reading a book about the origins of the Winter Olympics.

In my time with the business we had some fun, from launching the new Partick Thistle kit from the front line of the famous Pamplona bull run, to becoming official retail partner of the Scottish FA and Scottish Rugby.

Greaves sprinkled sporting star dust on the city… Sir Kenny Dalglish, Sir Chris Hoy, Ricky Hatton, Raymond Van Barneveld all had queues round the block when they came for signing sessions.

But it was the random drop ins that would get me… I saw the late great Walter Smith wandering around the golf dept, Virgil Van Dyke would come in for boots (pre-Liverpool), I remember seeing Paolo Nutini buying his mum’s Christmas present, I even saw Jason Donovan in buying running shoes!

Eminem’s people called and asked for the store to be closed for his visit, he was told no. He came anyway.

All very glamourous, yet if you walked past Greaves at closing time, guess who you’d see hoovering the carpet… Sandy Greaves.

Is hoovering the job of the MD? Not the point. The point was he wanted to set the standard and demonstrate graft, discipline and importantly care.

And that’s the difference between the people who own and run these independent businesses in our city centres, the shops, bars, restaurants that compete against the faceless enterprises… they really care.

As we watch in real time the slow burn of Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group and the likes of JD Sports, Primark puking over our prime shopping streets, we should ask ourselves how much they care about the cities they trade in.

When was the last time you saw someone from Sports Direct or Argos on LinkedIn banging on about the state of the streets in Glasgow, or the parking, or the transport, or the ludicrous business rates?

If one good thing comes from this week’s news, I hope it’s that more of us look around our city centres and pay attention to the shops, bars and restaurants that are owned and run by people with a face and a name, who actually care about the place.

If you see a retailer that you love, who’s been there when you’ve needed them, who’ve gone over and above in service levels, one you’d look back on with nostalgia one day, then go there, buy there, eat there, and drink there while you can.

If we keep chasing a fiver cheaper and a day’s quicker delivery, then this is where it ends up – with a closing down sign.

That job at Greaves changed my course and resulted in me setting up my own creative agency where my first client would be Greaves Sports.

Sandy backed me once again and gave me a leg up to start my own journey in business, a journey that saw me go from a kid in a shop with a Christmas list, to a member of staff, to a business owner and supplier to that shop, and now, most importantly, a friend.

Thank you to the Greaves family, staff and loyal customers.