Goldbergs

Its avant-garde Edinburgh store was noted for innovative features including a cafe on the top floor with a roof garden, escalators, a nursery and aviary.

[2] After starting a business on the South Side of Glasgow buying bales of cloth and making them up into goods for sale to wholesalers[3] he moved to premises in Candleriggs in the 1920s.

The building, which opened in 1963,[3] was ahead of its time, with escalators and automatic doors and a facade featuring huge glass windows and copper statues.

[4] The store featured elaborate window displays, a rooftop restaurant with roof garden and views towards Edinburgh castle, a nursery, funfair and aviary filled with exotic birds to entertain children.

[5] The store was initially closed on Saturdays and open on Sundays in accordance with the observance of the Jewish Sabbath, however this changed after Abraham Goldberg's death.

[4] From 1970 to 1974 a chain of stores were opened in Falkirk, Ayr, Paisley, Kirkcaldy, Motherwell, Dundee, Kilmarnock, Airdrie, Dunfermline, East Kilbride and Greenock, with an average salesfloor space of 7,500 sq ft (700 m2).

The late 1970s saw a one for three rights issue to fund this development, together with the expansion of the Goldberg department store chain with another three units (two in Scotland, and the first venture in England, in Blackpool).

After much pressure from Glasgow City Council, Selfridges began demolition of the former Goldbergs buildings in late 2013, with interim plans to turn the site into a landscaped area in preparation for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

In September 2021, work began on the Candleriggs Square development, a mixed use scheme which will see housing, student accommodation and new retail units built on the footprint of the former Goldbergs building.