Scottish shop getting its own place again
CRUISE ships are set to sail into Port Otago from overseas, but The Scottish Shop has a shorter journey to make — just 180m.
The shop, a Dunedin staple since 1985, is moving to a new location at 120 Stuart St ahead of a muchanticipated tourist boom.
Owner Sharon Hannaford took over the business, then located at 17 George St, in February 2020.
Six weeks later, all tourism ground to a halt and New Zealand locked down against the Covid19 pandemic.
The following two and ahalf years were an ‘‘absolute rollercoaster’’, Mrs Hannaford said.
In September 2020, the shop moved to its present location at 1 George St to join forces with another shop also struggling because of the pandemic.
‘‘We came to an agreement to take over the New Zealand Shop, and we moved The Scottish Shop into the New Zealand Shop space.’’
This worked well, but the plan had always been to split the shops again once cruise ships returned, she said.
This summer season, 112 cruise ships are scheduled to dock at Port Otago, starting with Celebrity Eclipse on October 26.
‘‘The New Zealand Shop will stay up there and we’re moving The Scottish Shop down to its own new space.’’
The customer bases for each of the two shops were quite different.
‘‘The Scottish Shop customers want to come in and have a chat about their heritage, their surname and what clan they belong to — if the counter’s full of people just wanting to buy goods they kind of get squished out.’’
Closed borders and lockdowns made for a ‘‘pretty grim’’ time, but a little local tourism had kept the business open.
‘‘As long as the ships turn up, we’ll be good.’’
‘‘It’s picked up in the last six weeks already, from the borders being open.’’
Recent visitors hailed from the United States, South America, Canada and Australia.
It was good to see the streets becoming more vibrant, and cruise ship passengers would add to this, she said.
The shop was set to open at its new location on September 2.
After the cruise ship season, she hoped to visit suppliers in Scotland, which she had not yet been able to do.