SCOTTISH SHOPPE ENDURES DESPITE DIFFICULT YEAR
Owner of family-run business has many irons in the fire to offset hit from pandemic
Many businesses have suffered greatly due to COVID-19, and expected sales have significantly diminished for retailers.
The Scottish Shoppe & A
Little Bit of Ireland has not only lost sales at its location on 10th Street N.W. just around the corner from Memorial Drive, but the cancellation of more than 20 Highland Games and festivals throughout Western Canada over the summer will be a heavy hit to what has been a big part of its revenues for many years.
Fortunately, Jim Osborne, owner of the family-run business, has many irons in the fire and despite the losses will pull through just fine.
The Scottish Shoppe will celebrate 50 years in business next year. Originally opened along 4th Street S.W., it was purchased by Osborne in 1996.
He emigrated with his family to Canada and Calgary in 1976 from Aberdeen, Scotland, where he was a skilled cabinet maker with a Royal Warrant manufacturer and furniture restorer working in some of the great houses in northeastern Scotland. To be eligible to move here he had to have employment, and arrived to begin his new job with Superior Components, then a division of ATCO.
Osborne later moved on to Smed Manufacturing. When that company was sold, he and fellow workers purchased equipment and lumber from its custom arm and opened Eurostyle Manufacturing and Construction.
Always involved in the Scottish community as a dancer and singer and bringing in Scottish entertainers, when he heard that the previous owners of the Scottish shop were thinking of retiring he jumped at the chance of a new career in a shop where he saw potential for growth.
And grow it he did.
His relationships and hours of volunteer commitment to organizations such as the Calgary Burns Club — where he is a life member and past president — as a life member of the St. Andrew-caledonian Society, and currently serving as lieutenant-colonel and area commander for central Canada and the United States with the 78th Fraser Highlanders, have earned him a lot of respect in the Scottish community.
Many of them have become good customers, buying from a huge selection of goods ranging from tartan ties to full clan regalia — including custom-made kilts that he even sells in Scotland.
Visitors to Calgary who have sought out the shop have continued purchasing, which means it ships worldwide for customers in places such as Vietnam and Madagascar, with regular parcels going to Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland and Singapore.
There are thousands of different tartans — according to son Jamie at least 50 this year — so bolts of cloth are ordered and imported from leading Scottish mills and the kilts are hand sewn with the necessary eight yards of material here by a specialist tailor in B.C. It is all traditional — Osborne won’t entertain gimmicky orders.
The shop carries an amazing number of items from around 2,000 suppliers; for many years since an Irish shop closed in TD Square it has supported our Irish citizens — shamrocks to shillelaghs — and now sells other Celtic pieces.
Fashionable clothing by James Pringle and Isle is complemented by a range of fine jewelry, including clan brooches and antique Celtic designs.
Among the unique items are custom-made cufflinks that are produced on the premises.
The shop also stocks a variety of foods from the British Isles; Mackay’s Fine Jams, Golden Syrup, Bisto, and Bowmore and Bushmills Orange Marmalade are all on the shelves.
Osborne does well because he is a good marketer. Unfortunately, he’s going to miss the large crowds that always gather around his booths at Highland Games this summer — he’s a big sponsor of the Canmore Highland Games — but the huge number of Celts in this city know where to find him.
Notes: Dean John Brown of the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape (SAPL) at the University of Calgary has announced the appointment of Catherine Hammel as associate dean of academic, architecture, a colleague for the past 25 years. SAPL is also welcoming two new faculty members; internationally recognized teachers, practitioners and researchers Alicia Nahmad Vazquez from the Architectural Association’s Design Research Laboratory in London, U.K., and Alberto de Salvatierra from the University of Nevada Las Vegas School of Architecture.