James Porter & Son owner sings praises of Glasgow as a retail hub
Simon Porter, the fifth generation managing director of one of Scotland’s best-known family jewellers, James Porter & Son, believes that Glasgow is exactly the place to be in this summer.
Although the retailer used to have a store in Edinburgh, all three of its boutiques are now based in Scotland’s largest city, specifically in the iconic Argyll Arcade.
“Glasgow as a city has got the same issues as many major cities have, but it has always been a very strong shopping city,” Porter told Watch Insider, as part of an in-depth interview that will be published in the coming weeks.
“The [Argyll] Arcade, and Buchanan Street in particular, is still a destination for shopping. There are shops here that are not in the shopping centres,” he continued.
“For a long time pre-Covid Saturdays were quieter, but over the last few years Saturdays are back to being very busy.
“The Commonwealth Games will be hosted in the city this month, which was a huge success last time [in 2014] — hopefully that’ll be good for us,” he continued.
The full interview with Simon Porter will be published in the July 2026 edition of Watch Insider.
