There is always something to do at the last minute when you're expecting visitors, and Glasgow's new Silverburn shopping centre is no exception.

Some 1600 construction and finishing workers were still there last night with the first 12,000 shoppers expected through the doors today.

The £350m centre in Pollok will be home to more than 100 restaurants and shops, with many of the best-known high street names locating their biggest Scottish stores on the 75-acre site off Junction 2 on the M77.

Customers were promised yesterday that "Sorry, we don't stock that at this branch" will be a thing of the past for many of the household-name stores.

Richard Low, managing director of Combined Property Services - agents for developers Retail Property Holdings - said: "It has taken 12 years but inevitably you have to work flat-out for the 48 hours prior to opening."

The delays are perhaps excusable given the hurdles that had to be overcome. Tesco had to build its new store first, so that the existing one could be demolished to clear the site. There was undermining from mineral workings that had to be dealt with, tons of contaminant gunge - a legacy of the site's use as a refuse pit during a dustmen's strike - had to be removed, and the site was also a flood plain requiring elevation.

Among those opening today will be the main anchor stores such as Marks & Spencer, Debenhams and Next, along with specialist shops including H&M, Hobbs, Kurt Geiger, and LK Bennett.

Today's will be a "soft opening" - of the 80 shops available in the first phase 76 have been let and most will be open and trading by the third week in November, and there will be an official opening in March next year.

A Winter Garden area for relaxation, still under construction, will be open by then.

"What we have here is a nice selection of shops selling what the marketing people refer to as affordable luxury items' - like Hobbs and LK Bennett," said Mr Low.

"We have built them in little clusters catering for particular sectors of the market, for example, a cluster of youth fashion shops. What you will see is that the centre has been designed as a series of civic spaces joined by two-storey shops. The brief given to the designer was that we did not want a soulless American-style mall. We wanted variety. The clients asked for curves and crescents, civic spaces, the opportunity to stop for food or a coffee along the way.

"There are high levels of natural light, like a city centre only with a roof. There is free parking and convenient motorway access. Retailers' requirements have changed over the past five years. Some are getting bigger and bigger, and they demand very big shops. Next has got 50,000 square feet. It could not have got that anywhere else in Glasgow.

"Architecturally we set out to break the mould. You will see faceted rock-facing at the front of some shops, marble or limestone at others. It is the first of its kind, the first non-mall shopping centre."

Inevitably the opening of an out-of-town - or in this case edge-of-town - shopping centre raises anxieties about the effect on city centre shops.

But Mr Low pointed out: "Many of the major retailers here are are already established in and around Buchanan Street. They wouldn't be moving in here if they thought they were cutting their own throats."

From chain stores to boutiques
Chain stores

  • M&S
  • Next
  • Monsoon
  • Jane Norman
  • New Look
  • Wallis
  • Body Shop
  • Debenhams
  • Warehouse
  • Schuh
  • Oasis
  • Top Shop
  • Top Man

Niche market

  • Yo Sushi
  • Lime Blue
  • LK Bennett
  • Red
  • Rox
  • Hobbs
  • Kurt Geiger
  • Little VIPs