An historic Glasgow sports store which once served Frank Sinatra and Samuel L Jackson is closing its doors after 50 years on the high street.
Greaves Sports, on Gordon Street, has launched a closing down sale after being bought out by Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group.
One of Scotland’s oldest independent sports retailers, over the decades its customers have included a host of professional athletes and high-profile celebrities such as Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby in the 1950s who bought some golf clubs, as well as film star Samuel L. Jackson and rapper Eminem.
Frasers Group, who bought the brand in July, have yet to officially announce the acquisition but signs advertising a closing down sale appeared in the windows of the premises this week.
The group also owns House of Fraser, Sports Direct, Flannels, GAME, Evans Cycles, and USC as well as Buchanan Street’s House of Fraser, Braehead shopping centre, and Dundee’s Overgate centre.
The business began as the Clydesdale Rubber Company in the 1930s, selling - among other things - Wellington boots and sheepskin coats. The business survived the difficult 1930s and 40s and in the 1950s, the third generation of the family business, brothers Jim and Bill Greaves, presided over a change of direction which would see this small rubber company grow into one of the best known multi-sports department stores in the UK.
In 1959, Jim and Bill took over their main city rival, Lumley’s in a bold buy-out which saw them double their presence in Glasgow. Diversifying into the sports trade and becoming synonymous with winter sports, Jim and Bill rebranded the Clydesdale Rubber Company as Greaves Sports in 1967.
As more and more rival sports stores swapped out sports gear for leisure wear, Greaves soon became one of the country’s last true multi-sports department stores standing.
Greaves and Frasers Group have been contacted for comment.