Store talk

As the Scottish Grocers Federation celebrates its centenary, Caroline Lindsay discovers that our local convenience stores are still at the heart of the community

As the Scottish Grocers Federation celebrates its centenary, we look at the importance of local shops.

Cast your mind back to the last week of February when the Beast from the East struck and Courier Country was besieged by high winds and heavy snowfall. Many folk were left housebound, unable to get out for their daily essentials. But Harris Aslam and his team from Greens convenience store in the Fife village of Markinch weren’t going to let a bit of bad weather disrupt their customer service. They headed to their milk and bread suppliers and loaded up their car boots with umpteen bottles of milk, rolls and loaves and delivered it around the area, taking in young families, elderly residents, care homes and anyone who couldn’t make it to the shop.

Harris, who runs Eros Retail with his cousin, launched the Greens brand in 2015 (the name is partly a nod to his heritage when his family ran Green’s Dairy in Pakistan) and is proud of the part the seven stores play in their local communities.

“Our slogan is ‘making a difference locally’ and that’s what we live by,” he says proudly. “We hold Big Breakfast days and Healthy Living days for the local primary school to introduce children to new foods. Some kids might be trying something like cucumber for the first time, for example,” he continues.

Today’s convenience stores plug the gap between the anonymity of shopping in a huge supermarket and independent corner shops we fondly remember from the past, many of which disappeared in the early 21st Century.

“While people will often do their big shop in a supermarket, they will often pop round to their local convenience store to top up and to have a blether,” says Harris.

With more than 55,000 convenience stores in the UK, there are about 6,000 in Scotland – the highest density per capita in the country. And this year, the Scottish Grocers Federation (the trade association for convenience stores including Scotmid, Spar, Nisa and Greens to name just a few) celebrates its 100th anniversary. Harris is confident that it will be around to see its next centenary.

“The world is changing all the time and nobody really knows what the next 10 years will look like, let alone 100,” he says. “The important thing is to maintain that passion for innovation and doing things differently to plot the way to the future and to try to be ahead of the curve.

“We’ve always adapted to trends and will still do that, although technology in small stores is all about what’s practical and making a few small changes to free up time to spend more time with customers.”

Harris believes that the secret behind the success of these shops lies in remaining loyal to their original principles founded a century ago while also moving with the times.

“With every passing day retail is changing, but it’s not a case of being driven by technology – it’s about integration and balance,” he explains. “We have a significantly older population now and we need to

The important thing is to maintain that passion for innovation and to plot the way to the future