Glasgow car showroom could be turned into Asian grocery store

By Drew Sandelands, Local Democracy Reporter

A former car showroom could be converted into a convenience store, with an Asian food offering, after new plans were revealed.

Glasgow City Council has received an application which requests permission to convert a disused Arnold Clark showroom on Shields Road.

The plans, submitted by Bloomby Ltd, state the new use would include “a convenience store serving the local market, a specialist food store offering Asian foods and groceries, reflecting local demand, and a wholesale trade business”.

The wholesale element would “supply fresh foods and bulk items to businesses locally, such as restaurants and hot-food takeaways”.

Between eight and 10 jobs could be created if the development goes ahead, the applicant has said, while it would “generate significant new investment” in a unit which has been empty since spring 2021.

Documents submitted to the council state the new retail offering would “serve the local community and wider wholesale requirement”. Click and collect ordering and delivery options would be available for the wholesale market.

They added there is “strong local demand in the Pollokshields and Cessnock/Ibrox area” for a specialist food store “retailing Asian foods and groceries”.

It is proposed that the store would be open from 8am to 9pm seven days a week, which, the applicant stated, reflects “neighbouring retail occupiers or indeed less”. “The proposed development will have tangible economic and social benefits,” the application added.

Since the car showroom closed, it has been “actively marketed” but there has been little progress due to “the condition of the existing buildings”, the plans claim.

“The cost of refurbishment is prohibitive and past its useful life for a number of uses,” they add. “Through this marketing process since 2021 the most sympathetic land use proposal has come from the applicant.”

Under the proposal, parking bays would be reconfigured to provide 30 spaces, including three disabled bays, while a covered bike store would be created.

(Local Democracy Reporting Service)