A LOCAL businessman has opened a vintage designer clothes store in Elgin.

Andrew Gentleman owns Clean4Me on South Street and has worked in the cleaning industry in Moray for over 20 years.

However, recently he has expanded the business to sell vintage designer clothes as well with his new venture ‘Pretty New Clothing’ – inspired by former Oasis star Liam Gallagher’s own clothing label ‘Pretty Green’.

Andrew says that the expansion came about “naturally” and that it was time to “try something new” after more than two decades working in the cleaning industry.

“We used to clean a lot of Forces uniforms so what would happen is people would see them and tell us how smart they looked,” he said.

“Off the back of that I bought in a few uniforms just to display at first.

“From there it just kind of went from uniforms to vintage uniforms and then vintage clothing and nearly new clothing.

“That’s really how it all came together.”

Like many business owners in Moray, Andrew struggled to cope with the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.

However, his recent expansion into selling clothes alongside his cleaning business points towards a brighter future.

“Obviously it was a worrying time for us,” he said.

“It was quite scary actually, as it was for a lot of businesses, but we’ve rode the storm.

“I’ve thought about doing this for a while so I’m glad that I’ve finally done it.

“I’ve had a great response so far and the laundrette side of the business is always busy so I’m hopeful