Tartan-focused online retailer plans to sew up growth plans with upcoming store opening

● Scotlandshop targets flagship outlet as it outlines ‘ambitious’ five-year plans

Anna White explains that when she founded Scotlandshop in 2002, an online business now focused on tailored tartan clothing and interiors, she wasn’t necessarily planning to ever have a bricks-and-mortar shop.

But as the business grew, soon abandoning its crafts and food offering for being overly complex, and with customers seeking out face-to-face interaction, it is preparing to open the doors tomorrow to its new flagship store on Edinburgh’s Queensferry Street.

White says that, despite the growth in the e-commerce sector, with an estimated £133 billion last year, some people don’t want to shop online, and the retail space will help the company showcase its full range of what is such a “tactile” product.

“Because we do interiors and clothing, we need a decent amount of space,” she says, and it will include a tailoring area at the back and be able to guide people through its 1,000plus tartans.

White set up the venture, based just outside Duns in Berwickshire, in a case of