Ella Bulloch – Glasgow's longest established millinery shop
A hat is a statement, whether it is for a special occasion, for casual or every day wear, and we think it is important that yours makes you feel special. Choosing a hat is far more than simply matching a colour to an outfit – and it can even be fun!
We know that sometimes finding the right hat for a big occasion can feel stressful, especially if it is for a wedding or other big life event. For almost 60 years our friendly and experienced staff have helped generations of women relax when choosing hats and accessories, giving them honest advice and suggestions of designs to flatter their face shape, opening their eyes to exciting alternative designs and helping them feel fabulous.
Don't just take our word for it, here are just a few of our customers looking fabulous in their hats.
An incredible selection of hats
When you visit our shop you can see up close our huge variety of styles and incredible choice of colours, actually touch and feel the textures and try on any number of designs from our range of over 1500 different and beautiful hats and fascinators for all occasions and seasons until you are happy with what suits you. With the latest trends by leading Designers including Snoxell & Gwyther, Vivien Sheriff, Vixen, Whiteley, JBees, Failsworth, Nigel Rayment, Niche and more you will be spoiled for choice.
If you find a hat you love but would like it customised, for example with different trim or contrasting decoration, we may be able to do that giving you a unique, bespoke design at a very reasonable price.
Accessories to complete your look
As well as our fabulous hats we have beautiful bags - for formal or casual wear - and accessories like lovely jewellery, pashminas, gloves by Dents, and more, ideal to finish your outfit, as a gift for someone special ……or just to treat yourself.
For Brides-to-Be, Bridesmaids or anyone looking for a bit of sparkle we have a great choice of gorgeous bridal headwear and stunning hair jewellery by well-known Designers including Richard Designs.
One important thing we have learned from experience - it is very difficult to accurately carry a colour in your head or to accurately see colour through a pc screen or mobile phone. If you are visiting our shop and have your outfit - or even a sample of the colour - please bring it with you as it is essential for the right colour match.
Our team
Valerie
Valerie is our shop manager. A life-long hat lover, it gives her a thrill to see a customer delighted when she has helped them find their perfect style of hat.
Well-known in Glasgow’s West End where for many years she ran her own lingerie shop, “Brief Encounter”. Valerie jokes that having gone from underwear to hats she has “gone from the bottom to the top in ladies fashion”!
Louise
Passionate about hats, Louise believes in spending quality time listening to customers and finding them a lovely style to enhance their look.
Louise loves the outdoors and is especially fond of the beautiful Moray and Speyside areas of Scotland.
Kirsty
Kirsty was doing a millinery course in 2014 when we were fortunate to find her and bring her on to our team on a part time basis. A busy lady, she gave up her full time job as a supervisor for a major department store to follow a nursing career, qualifying in 2020 – bang in the heat of the pandemic!
She loves working with hats and if you wish a hat customised to better match your outfit Kirsty will do it beautifully.
Carol & Gordon
Carol & Gordon are the owners of Ella Bulloch having taken over the shop from Ella, Gordon’s mum. They live in Grantown-on-Spey in the Highlands where they run a luxury B&B which, amongst other awards, has been “AA Guest Accommodation for Scotland” and Good Hotel Guide "Editor's Choice B&B 2020". They are delighted to be carrying on Ella’s legacy with the help of such a lovely team.
Our history
In 1927 a young Ella Bulloch, aged just 14, started work at Reid & Jeffrey, a milliners in Wishaw. At that time no lady would be seen without a hat so it was a busy shop. Initially Ella’s work as a general assistant ranged from sweeping the floor to hand delivering hats to customers’ homes. We still have the very box she used to carry them in though it is a bit battered after almost 100 years - it would be an ideal candidate for “The repair Shop” on TV!
Her interest in hats clear, the shop owners trained Ella in millinery. In the late 1930s she became the shop manager and just few years later bought the business, quite a daring move for a young single woman at that time. Ella Bulloch Millinery was born and hats became Ella’s lifelong passion.
She opened our current shop in 1964 and worked in it until 2012, “retiring” at the ripe young age of 99!
With a great eye for on-trend styles before the term was invented (no “fuddy duddy” hats allowed in her shop) Ella was well known for her eye-catching window displays. She adored listening to her customers' stories and helping them choose the hat which was just right for them, whatever the occasion, often encouraging them to a style they would not have considered but which suited them perfectly. So successful was she at this that generations of families of Mothers-of- Brides and Mothers-of-Grooms have bought their hats from Ella Bulloch
Ella had a terrific sense of fun, a total enthusiasm for life and was so elegant, usually dressed in her signature black and white. She lived life to the full until just weeks short of her 105th birthday in 2018. Here at her shop we are proud to carry on her legacy - all who knew her will understand that Ella would not have it any other way!!