From the High Street to The PGA. You could say that Stuart Williamson is a dedicated follower of fashion.
The expertise and experience he built up over many years working in a popular clothing outlet has led to him becoming one of Scotland’s foremost golf retailers with numerous industry awards on his CV.
Working alongside his business partner, Stuart Geddes, Williamson has transformed the hitherto moribund Clydeway Golf Performance Centre in Uddingston into a flourishing, bustling driving range and shop which, last year, turned over £1.5 million.
While golf was always his passion, Williamson took a long and winding road to The PGA.
“I left school at 16 and wanted a job in golf,” he reflected. “A few of my friends were assistants and I fancied that myself. But there were no vacancies at the time.
“There was a YTS (Youth Training Scheme) opportunity as a greenkeeper at Cathcart Castle for £26.50 a week.”
After a few years at that particular coalface, Williamson changed direction and moved into an industry that would stand him in good stead for what was to come.
He cut his retail teeth in The Golf Shop, a busy, independent outlet in Glasgow’s St Enoch Shopping Centre.
“It was the 1990s and the days of the Geometric George sweaters that Nick Faldo wore,” said Williamson of a garment that became something of a cult classic. “You just about had folk fighting for them in the shop.”
From there, Williamson moved into a role with the USC fashion chain and honed the skills that he would eventually take back into his first love of golf.
“I worked my way up from a sales assistant at USC and ended up managing my own store in the Braehead Shopping Centre,” he said. “I actually won a Mini Cooper car for my sales in 2007.
“It had been a troubled shop. I managed to turn it around and made it one of the most profitable in the company. I worked there for years but I didn’t feel I was going anywhere.
“I still loved golf, so I bit the bullet, packed in my job, packed in my flat too and moved back in with my mum while I did my PGA training at West Kilbride under Iain Darroch.
“I was 34 when I started my training. I wasn’t getting any younger. It was a case of now or never. Retail was always going to be my area of expertise.
"I would always prefer working in the shop than standing on the range coaching all day. Iain let me do all the retail and merchandise in the shop and I loved it.”
Opportunity would swiftly come knocking in 2012 as the lease for the Clydeway facility, which had slipped into a fairly sorry state, came up just as Williamson was completing his PGA training.
“It needed everything done,” he said. “It was barely trading and hardly anybody was using it.
“It didn’t have any accounts with the main brands, and we found it quite hard to get accounts because we’d almost been blacklisted. We had to pay upfront with brands before we got any stuff in. It was hard because of the dilapidated state it was in.
“But I had an affinity with the place. As a boy it was the go-to place. It had always been busy, so I knew there was potential. It was a gamble, though.
“My earlier role in the USC shop certainly stood me in good stead for what I confronted at Clydeway. We had stock issues, staff issues; everything was wrong.
“The range balls barely had dimples. That was the first investment. Regardless of what the range is like, if you have decent balls and decent mats, people will come.
“We didn’t have much money. We borrowed a small amount and bought new balls and mats and started getting busier.
“Gradually people came back. We started getting a bit of trade and used the profit from the balls to invest into the shop.”
That was where Williamson’s retail nous really came to the fore.
Over time, a resurgent Clydeway, which became a Srixon Centre of Excellence three years ago, would return to being the “go-to” place that Williamson knew and cherished as a youngster.
“A strength of mine is keeping the finger on the pulses of trends,” said Williamson.
“Tastes change, fashions change. It’s an evolving scene. When I was at USC, we were turning over £7 million a year with all the top brands.
“I had a wealth of retail knowledge before I had my own golf shop. A lot of golf pros will have no retail experience and then, all of a sudden, they’ve got a shop. It’s been hugely beneficial to have that background.
“We tend to stock brands that maybe not everybody has access to. We were the first in the area to get L.A.B putters. We have Hugo Boss, G/Fore, Malbon.
“I’m a bit of a golf geek. I read and look at absolutely everything out there, and try to stay ahead of the game in terms of what’s hitting the market. Going to the trade fair in Orlando every year is always worthwhile, and you learn a lot from that.
“I’ll know what agents have the brands or I’ll contact the brands directly and take it from them. That’s how I work.
“As well as Malbon, we are one of the few accounts in the UK who do the Adidas originals too. They liked how we displayed our shop and our presence on social media. We have a very diverse customer base too and we met their criteria.
“These brands like to be positioned near similar brands in the shop. But they don’t want to be in every pro shop. They have certain areas they want to be in. And once you’ve got their stuff in stock, you’re almost blocking your competitors out.
“It’s a less is more approach from the brand. That obviously makes it much more sought after.
“The L.A.B putters have been huge. Last year, they were 40 per cent of our total putter sales. For a new brand that’s quite insane.
“The Scotty Camerons were always popular. In recent seasons, the Spiders have enjoyed big sales but for L.A.B to come in and take such a percentage of sales is quite incredible. It’s the biggest impact I’ve witnessed on that front.”
In a highly competitive marketplace, you can’t afford to stand still and Williamson’s simple, yet effective approach continues to bear fruit.
“We are constantly changing the layout of the shop, probably on a fortnightly basis,” added the 50-year-old.
“That’s all coming from my fashion retail days. That’s what you were taught to do.
“If they see the same display all the time, they’ll think, ‘I’ve looked at that before’ but if you mix it up, they’ll say, ‘oh, that’s new’. But it’s not new, it’s sat there for four weeks, they’ve just not seen it.
“A lot of customers are repeat customers. The old mantra is that 80 percent of business comes from 20 per cent of your customers.
“You have to make sure, then, that you know your 20 per cent who spend the money. We know them, we know their shopping habits. I’m not saying we treat them any better than others, but we do maybe do that extra bit.
“If we are getting new stock in, my shop manager will pop those in this core group an individual message. People like to be first to get new stuff.
"We have a wee list of what they like, what they don’t like. It makes it all very personal.”
In an age of rampant online shopping, Williamson remains a staunchly “bricks and mortar” retailer.
“We don’t have anything online,” he said. “We have looked at it. But in the golf business there are minimums. If you want to stock, say, a certain brand of footwear you have to carry every style and every size and you must have them in stock at all times.
“The bill for that alone would be pretty high and we wouldn’t have room to keep all that.
“You can’t underestimate the importance of human contact in this business.
“All the brands are different. If you are a large in one brand you may be a medium in another. Sizes can vary.
“Having a fitting room and a place where you try something out and see how it feels are all important parts of the service. That’s an advantage over online.
“I like to think customer service is what separates us from other places. That’s drilled into the guys who work here. Everyone walking in has to be acknowledged. You have to go above and beyond.”
While the Clydeway facility continues to prosper, Williamson has expanded his operations and juggles a dual role as the head PGA professional at Kirkhill Golf Club.
“It was my home club,” he said of this return to his golfing roots. “I’ve re-fitted the shop and knocked some walls down to make it bigger.
“The previous, long-term pro was more of a coach, so the shop was pretty basic. Now, there are a lot of good brands in there and plenty of choice. I’m putting my own stamp on it.”
This dedicated follower of golfing fashion continues to make his mark.
The Willamson way - top tips for retail success
“No 1 has to be getting to know your main customers; their names, their habits. It’s a tailored approach.”
“Acknowledge everyone coming into the shop. It’s not groundbreaking stuff but a simple ‘hello’ and a ‘goodbye’ can make a big difference.”
“Prioritise customer service. If the phone is ringing in the shop and we’re dealing with a customer, we’ll ignore the phone. Our attention is fully focussed on the person in the shop. That’s a big thing. You can end up on the phone for a 10-minute query, and you’ve lost the other customer in the shop.”
“We will always offer alternatives. If someone is looking for a certain style and we don’t have it, we won’t come out to them empty handed.”
“Your staff must know what they are talking about. There is much more knowledge among customers, and they almost tell you what is happening in the retail trade. Gone are the days when you could waffle on about something. Everybody in your shop must be well informed.”
“If you get enquiries from people, you must make sure you get back in touch with them in a timely manner. If they are waiting on an order, we will always keep them updated on its progress or inform them of any delays in delivery. You don’t want to make them feel forgotten about.”
