A long-established staple of Tayside’s Christmas calendar, Broughty Ferry furniture retailer Gillies have outdone themselves with their 2016 shopfront display.
Bringing together 13 of the recently auctioned Oor Wullie statues from this year’s Bucket Trail, the family-run chain has assembled the largest collection for public display since their last public appearance at Mary Slessor Gardens in early September.
“In the late 90s, we received an award from Dundee City Council for putting the most festive touch to our premises,” says Gillies’ marketing director Ewan Philp.
“It’s really in the last five years that we’ve increasingly put more time and effort into it. We’ve an interior designer named Fiona McLaren, who has been brilliant at bringing in these ideas and making it all come to life.”
“Every year it’s a challenge,” says operations director David Philp. “In 2014 we had the Discovery, last year we had the train. This time we were going to just have a normal carousel with reindeer but with the success of the Oor Wullie Bucket Trail we decided to try and incorporate that.”
“On the first night the display was up we had to leave it on until 8pm. When Ewan came down to turn it off he was booed by the people outside.”
Shoppers can find several favourites in and outside the shop, including the David Bowie and Minecraft themed statues. Like the Bucket Trail itself, the display has been facilitiated by a number of local businesses and good causes.
“Gillies own one and we’re quite well connected with the lifeboat in Broughty Ferry so they loaned us the RNLI one,” says Ewan.
“A&G Properties kindly lent us four, a couple from DC Thomson, the Fort Bar next door and we’ve just been given the Michelin Man Wullie and the Tangerine Terror. We’re delighted.”
The public can see the display until Wednesday, December 21, although the Philps have revealed that they are rooting for an extension. “It’s a point of contention just now because a number of us want to keep it in for a little bit longer,” says Ewan. “We’ll hopefully extend it by at least a couple of days.”
“People love it and we like doing this for Broughty Ferry as well. It’s a lot of fun.”
All proceeds from the ‘selfy station’, where kids (and adults) can have their picture taken with Santa Wullie, will be donated to the ARCHIE Foundation.
