Gopals Bags & Luggage – Gateway Theatre of Shopping
Our store first opened its doors in 1972 in Durban’s Beatrice Street and originally began as a shoe store that sold and repaired leather shoes to our customers. It was a small store run by my wife and myself, and we lived in the flat directly above. Combining our passion and commitment to grow our business, we soon expanded our leather range to include wallets, purses, handbags and suitcases. In the 1970s, the heart and soul of retail was found in Durban’s historic Grey Street and its surrounding avenues. Here you would find jewellers, barbers, tailors, shoemakers and other
Our store first opened its doors in 1972 in Durban’s Beatrice Street and originally began as a shoe store that sold and repaired leather shoes to our customers. It was a small store run by my wife and myself, and we lived in the flat directly above. Combining our passion and commitment to grow our business, we soon expanded our leather range to include wallets, purses, handbags and suitcases. In the 1970s, the heart and soul of retail was found in Durban’s historic Grey Street and its surrounding avenues. Here you would find jewellers, barbers, tailors, shoemakers and other
Our first stand-alone luggage store opened its doors in the Victoria Street Market in 1990. By now we had phased off shoes and started carrying luggage and leather goods from quality, well-known brands. In 1992 we opened in what was formerly West Street, Durban’s premiere shopping street at the time. Three years later we opened a store at The Workshop. Over the years, the trend in retail started to take a change with the advent of shopping malls opening up. Soon more and more people were starting to choose the convenience and multi-offering brought in by these new malls. Picking up on this trend from our customers, we next expanded our business at the end of 2000 by opening a store at The Pavilion, Durban’s biggest shopping complex back then. A year later, a super-regional mall that was going to mark the beginning of a new urban development opened in the midst of Durban’s sugar cane plantations. Not wanting to miss out on this exciting opportunity to expand towards Durban’s North Coast, we opened a store at Gateway, Theatre of Shopping. In 2008, a branch at Westwood Mall was opened and now we believe we had our foot firmly planted in Durban.
In 2012 my son joined our business to help grow and expand our vision of offering the best retail experience to our customers in our industry. I believe passion, commitment and lots of hard work pays off and it is for the same reason that Gopal’s Bags & Luggage is where it is today. As we grew, our customers grew with us. So where to from here? Stay tuned.
