British Home Stores in the Wellgate Centre was a knockout with shoppers after being opened by Henry Cooper on May 16 1978.
Cooper — with his knockout scent of Brut — took off the gloves to sign autographs and photographs for 500 Dundonians.
He performed the opening ceremony at 9am at BHS, which was the second store to open at the £7 million Wellgate and which would change the face of the city centre forever.
The British boxing champion — who knocked down Muhammad Ali for the first time in his career — presented free Brut gift sets to the first 100 customers.
As the “brand ambassador” for the men’s fragrance handed over the aftershave to the mother of one small boy he told her: “Keep it until he starts shaving!”
Cooper was a man of the people
The first customer to meet Cooper was 58-year-old merchant seaman Arthur McNicoll of Rosefield Street, who got up at 4.30am to be sure of a good place in the queue.
Elizabeth Cunningham, of Ballindean Road, surprised the only British boxer to win three Lonsdale Belts outright when she asked him to sign her bank book!
So what was the champ’s take on Dundee’s BHS?
Cooper said: “Like most of the British Home Stores I’ve opened, the standard here is very high indeed.
“It’s good gear, well presented — just what you want.”
Cooper proved he was a true gentleman and man of the people when he stayed the distance and spent five hours in Dundee before flying back to London.
The new store was the 7th BHS in Scotland and the 104th in the chain.
BHS actually had a brief presence in the city much earlier than the late 1970s.
New Universal Stores opened at 53-61 Wellgate in 1938 and sold everything from ladieswear to sweets, toys, haberdashery goods, hardware, cutlery, rugs and linoleum.
The shop operated a price range from 3p to £5.
Then, in 1944, BHS took over the chain store subsidiary of nine outlets and the shops were rebranded with the exception of the Dundee branch.
Despite being under the ownership of BHS, the shop was requisitioned by the government for the war effort and forced to shut down.
Ironically, it wouldn’t be until the whole Wellgate area was demolished in the 1970s that BHS would return to the city.
Tesco was the first retailer to open its doors in April 1978, followed by BHS and Mothercare in the weeks afterwards.
Attracting a prestigious brand like BHS to the city was a real coup and the department store was probably the best place to find just about anything you needed.
From clothing and cutlery, to sweets and saucepans, BHS had it all.
Many Dundonians may have less fond memories of the annual pilgrimage to BHS during the summer holidays to get new school uniforms for the coming year.
Although the torture of being dragged on a shopping trip was often accompanied with a bribe of a sweet treat or cake in BHS’s self-service restaurant afterwards.
BHS was also one of the retailers in Dundee that pioneered Sunday openings when it did so as an experiment for the summer of 1986.
BHS merged with Mothercare and Sir Terence Conran’s Habitat to create Storehouse.
Changes in the store environment were introduced to complement the product changes to make the stores livelier and more attractive to the younger consumer.
Initial reaction to the change seemed promising with a good Christmas in 1986, which was always a wonderful time of year at BHS with shoppers thronging through its door for gifts and a visit to Santa’s grotto.
There was trouble ahead…
Still going strong in the 1990s, the Dundee BHS underwent a big revamp when the Wellgate Centre was reimagined with larger and loftier mall areas in 1992.
BHS gave up almost all of its extensive area on the first level, instead taking up almost the entire Murraygate end of levels one and two.
The shopping centre’s owners said the improved mall and BHS – which was still its biggest store – would meet shoppers’ increased and “sophisticated” demands.
But nothing lasts forever.
The Arcadia Group, with Sir Philip Green at its helm, acquired BHS for £200 million in 2000, but it proved to be such a poor performer he sold it for just £1 in 2015.
By now, BHS had debts of more than £1 billion, including a pensions deficit of £571m.
Of course, its eventual demise in April 2016 was symbolic of a wider issue for our high streets, with many retailers struggling to cope with the changing retail landscape.
Even BHS in its pomp would have struggled to offer the kind of product range available at the likes of Amazon.
For a long time it has seemed more a case of when it would go under, rather than if.
The news couldn’t have come at a worse time.
BHS had been set to maintain a strong presence in the multi-million-pound upgrade to the Wellgate, which included plans for a 900-seat, eight-screen multiplex cinema.
The redevelopment was thrown into turmoil when administrators Duff & Phelps began winding the company down after failing to find a buyer for the 88-year-old chain.
Gallows humour to the end
The Dundee flagship clung on as one of the final two stores in Scotland to remain open until August 20 2016.
Wellgate manager Peter Aitken said: “We will be very sad to see the closure of BHS this weekend and our thoughts remain, first and foremost, with the many local staff who are losing their jobs, many after an extended period working with the company.
“They were all part of the Wellgate family and we wish them well for the future.
“As we move forwards, there are ongoing discussions with interested parties about options for the BHS unit and the wider centre.”
It was indeed the end of an era.
Customers flocked for knock-down bargains before the shutters came down.
With gallows humour, staff joked about how more Saturdays like these could have saved the business.
But it was too little, too late.
Among the savvy shoppers there was also regret that this once-great High Street institution – founded by a group of American entrepreneurs – was shutting for good.
But it will be another entrepreneur, Sir Philip Green, who will be forever linked with BHS’s demise.
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