The front cover of Dallas's mail order catalogue, 1915.>
Dallas & Co was established in Glasgow by John Dallas in 1865. It was incorporated as Dallas's Ltd around 1908, by which time it had developed an extensive mail order business selling clothes, fashion accessories, stationery, toiletries, luggage and many other goods across the British Empire.
Dallas's department store was called Milton House and was situated at 166-170 Cowcaddens Street. The company was acquired by House of Fraser in 1942. The department store remained open until 1973, when it was demolished during the redevelopment of Cowcaddens.
The catalogue cover shows Milton House as well as some of the firm's most important foreign markets: the West Indies, British West Africa, Central America, the Falkland Islands and India and Ceylon. The page displays the store's famous slogan, "The House that Value Built."
Reference: Glasgow University Archive Services, HF15/7/1/26
House of Fraser plc
Keywords:
British Empire, clothes shops, Dallas's, department stores, drapers, exports, fashions, First World War, mail order catalogues, Milton House, shopping