Mr. Campbell-Blair

MR. CAMPBELL-BLAIR, Tea and Wine Merchant and Family Grocer, 7 and 9, Howard Street, Glasgow. Proprietor — Mr. James Weir.

    Few Glasgow concerns of the kind have so well earned and so ably preserved the position of commercial distinction held by the old and noteworthy business of Mr. Campbell-Blair, of Howard Street, established as far back as in the year 1835, and now controlled under the sole proprietary and direction of Mr. James Weir. This may be described as one of the several representative establishments whose longevity and general features must at all times enhance the interest and value of any literary work devoted to a survey of Glasgow’s trade and commerce. Two years before the accession of Her present Majesty there was no establishment in Glasgow purveying directly for the requirements of families, and to the late Mr. Campbell-Blair may be credited the inauguration of the first family grocery house in the City. While the Metropolis now teems with establishments professing to cater for what is understood as family business, the house of Mr. Campbell-Blair maintains its original pre-eminence in the trade, and its prosperity has become largely based on the system of cash trading which was early adopted by this firm. Much credit is due to the skilful and discriminate guidance of Mr. James Weir, who has been connected with the business since boyhood, and who was manager for Mr. Campbell-Blair long before his personal acquisition of the business.

    From the once-famous Gushet House in Main Street, and more recently from Jamaica Street, the business was transferred to its present location in Howard Street, where the entire floorage space at disposal represents a cumulo extent of little less than 6,000 feet. The premises are a very commanding feature of the thoroughfare, and in point of general fitting and arrangement are unsurpassed by any house in the trade. The appropriate character of the situation may be understood when we say that the establishment is in close proximity to the largest houses in the tea and grocery line in this City. The visitor to this house will be at once gratified by the impressions of taste that prevail, and the attractive manner in which the whole departments are submitted to inspection.

    The great speciality of this house is their famous Ceylon, Indian, and China Teas. In sugar of strong-grained rich qualities, biscuits, fruits, general groceries, pickles, and Italian table dainties, there are shown most ample assortments, and the whole goods of the house bear those features of excellence which, considering the antiquity and eminence of the house, it is obviously needless to specialise. The processes of roasting and grinding coffee are carried on daily, and with the reduction in tea duties, Mr. Weir is enabled to offer a range of no fewer than ten different blends and qualities, all of the same high quality that has done so much to sustain the reputation of the house during the last fifty-six years.

    As regards the merits of a valuable wine and spirit stock, it need only be said that all are alike superior for dietetic and general use. The list of seals, brands, and prices, conveys a very forcible idea of the extent and varieties of the whole collection, and for the information of those unfamiliar with the methods of the house, it may be here added, with reference to all wines and spirits bottled on the premises, that there is invariably branded on the cork, besides the trade mark of the firm, the signature of “Campbell-Blair”, a name that is eminently associated with the best interests of Glasgow’s wine and spirit trade and commerce. Exceptional value is at all times offered in whiskies, a large stock of the finest kinds being held under bond — four to six years old — and representing the best attainable products of the Laphrvaig and Lagavulin Glenlivet, Glenfoyle, and Gleniffer Distilleries.

    As a house supplying in every department the best possible value at wholesale prices, the establishment of Mr. Campbell-Blair may be said to hold fair rivalry with any form of store or other trading incorporation which the competitive aspects of modern times have suggested, and the best proof of its importance is presented in the popularity it commands not only in the City, but among connections at a very considerable distance therefrom, for whose requirements Mr. Weir provides with the attentiveness and promptitude of one long conversant with the features of that branch of trade which is so admirably exemplified in the business of Mr. Campbell-Blair.

    As a gentleman worthy and eminently deserving of the success that has attended his whole commercial operations, Mr. James Weir holds a high place in public esteem and commands the support and favour of a widespread circle of adherents both resident in and beyond the Western Metropolis. T

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