Psyche owner celebrates 25 years in the fashion industry

Oct 23 2007 by Karen McLauchlan, Evening Gazette

WHEN he opened his first clothes store in Redcar in the heat of the new wave 80s, Steve Cochrane never imagined what it would become.

Never in his wildest dreams, he admits, did he envisage Sliced Tomatoes, as it was called then, could turn into the Psyche empire he has built today.

The Middlesbrough store, situated in the former Uptons building in Linthorpe Road, is one of Teesside’s definite success stories.

And on Thursday Psyche will host an exclusive party celebrating 25 years in business.

Some of the industry’s big names will be there - including delegates from world famous designer houses Ralph Lauren and Hugo Boss who are flying in from America.

The Psyche name is embedded into Teesside culture and serves as a good example of the area’s ongoing regeneration.

The store is a designer Mecca stocking hundreds of fashion’s top labels alongside art, homeware, a bistro, a bridal department, hair and beauty rooms and even a baby scanning unit where prospective parents can view their unborn child.

But the opening of the luxury department store in the former Uptons outlet in 2003 has helped fuel other development along Linthorpe Road South.

Now a thriving secondary shopping district, the area has seen millions of pounds of investment and the arrival of other designer outlets, cafes and restaurants.

When the first Psyche boutique opened on Linthorpe Road, says Steve, the area was full of charity shops and takeaways - now, though, it is a different story.

Middlesbrough, he says, now has more boutiques than Newcastle.

“It’s not quite there yet but we are starting to get a Covent Garden-y feel to it,” says Steve.

Steve opened his first store in 1982.

“When I first started out everyone wore dark clothing and you had to go to London to get anything decent,” says Steve.

“I was in a punk band but it wasn’t working out. I had always been into style and the whole aesthetic thing going on with the new wave movement and it seemed a logical progression, people had been asking for fashion and there was no one to service that need.

“We opened it, half for fun really but then I really got into it and the more it went on, the more I thought ‘there’s something in this’.”

Back then Steve was fresh from a job on the oil rigs after doing an engineering degree.

Once the store opened, he admits, he loved everything about it from dealing with customers to meeting people from the fashion industry.

“Never in my wildest dreams back then did I think it would turn into what it has become now,” he says.

“The first shop had a retail space of 300sq ft, this store has 35,000sq ft.”

“We’re looking at extending and building another three floors on top of the building which will take it to 60,000sq ft.”

Expansion, he says, will see the creation of a rooftop restaurant and a boutique hotel serviced by a glass elevator on the front of the building that will give a panoramic view.

Plans for the hotel include having specially themed rooms along a designer line making each an individual experience.

“This is a 20m building and then there will be another three floors on top, indications so far show all the plans have been very well received,” adds Steve. The initial reaction has been supportive and positive.”

It could be easy, surrounded by all this designer luxury, to forget that Psyche is situated in the heart of Middlesbrough - just voted the worst place to live in Britain in a poll by Channel 4 programme Location, Location, Location.

Steve, however, is hugely passionate about the area and freely admits to getting incredibly frustrated when people put Middlesbrough down.

Psyche itself is just one example of the forward thinking to be found in the area which is undergoing something of a regeneration with the advent of mima and events like the BBC’s Proms in the Park.

“I am very passionate about Middlesbrough and about putting it on the map,” said Steve.

“When I see things like the Location, Location, Location programme it makes me furious.”

Part of the reason for Psyche’s success is that it evolves constantly.

Steve readily admits to the fact that he’s always doing something and always looking for ways to improve.

Our interview takes place in his office on the third floor of the store.

It’s packed full of his files and papers and he frequently interrupts the questioning to fire off an email or make a call “while its on his mind”.

New areas are being created in store to showcase designer labels - one just completed is Sand, the label worn by Middlesbrough’s footballers when they are suited and booted for travel to matches. Another is Penguin; the label designed and fitted out in its own area - the first time in the world they have ever done this, says Steve.

Polo Ralph Lauren are also set to create their own area which will have a mock front door and windows.

There have been lots of high points over the past 25 years, says Steve who is dad to Harvey, eight, and 16-week-old Oliver.

“Apart from the birth of both of my children, my proudest moment was when we were voted UK Retailer of the Year for two years running by different magazines. In 2004 we won the award from Drapers magazine, in 2005 it was from FHM magazine.”

Another high point was when Princess Anne came to visit.

Steve sold everything to cover the initial £2m investment needed to convert the former Uptons building into a luxury lifestyle store.

He won’t put an exact figure on what’s been spent since but reckons it runs into “several hundreds of thousands on top of that”.

But he says had the building remained empty, he would have worried about the Linthorpe Road area going downhill.

“I like a challenge and I always thought the building had potential.

“If it had been left empty it would have sounded a death knell for the whole area.”