• Blantyre champions given top achievement award
• Spar takes a magnificent seven
• Old and new winners signal Scottish c-stores are powering ahead
IT was the night that the Scottish convenience retailing industry hit the red carpet and came together to celebrate excellence, achievement and massive contributions to communities across the country – the Scottish Grocer Awards 2014.
The stars of the business were out for Scottish food and drink retailing’s own version of the Oscars at Glasgow’s five-star Hilton Hotel.
Over the course of the glittering event the final nominees, their supporters and an audience drawn from across the business heard that some well-known champions of old had picked up top titles. But, at the same time, there were new winners. A number of categories were topped by entrants who were competing for the first time.
And for one couple, Mo and Roxy Razzaq, who run Lanarkshire stores that deliver hugely for their local community and achieve commercial success, it became an especially important evening when they were named the 2014 winners of the award programme’s Industry Achievement Award.
Top magician and comedian Pete Firman got the show under way before sports TV presenter, and one of the faces of Formula 1, Georgie Thompson took to the stage to announce a total of 20 Scottish Grocer Awards winners.
Some well-known, established retailers picked up top titles. But, at the same time, there were many new winners in the 2014 awards.
As in previous years there were a number of successful entrants who took prizes in more than one category.
Before the evening reached its finale, when they were announced as winners of the Industry Achievement Award, Mo and Roxy heard that their Blantyre shop Premier Mo’s Convenience Store had triumphed in the Community Champion Award, in which a remarkable rural shop, the Londis store and Post Office in Crianlarich, and the inspiringly locally involved Premier Smeaton Stores in Kirkcaldy were both highly commended. Premier Mo’s also took the Social Responsibility Award for businesses with a single store – the couple had a single store when they first entered the competition, though they’ve recently opened a second outlet, the Family Shopper in High Blantyre.
Billy and Margaret Kay, who took the Industry Achievement Award in 2013, took two prizes this year. Their Spar store in South Street in Greenock was top in Confectionery Retailer of the Year and it was also named Champion of Beer.
The unit that’s thought to be Scotland’s largest independent food and drink store, Nisa Extra in Dundee, had another successful evening at the Scottish Grocer Awards. It had been named City Store of the Year in 2013, roughly a year after opening. But it made alterations in the last year as it responded to some significant changes in the local scene.
In 2014 it took the City Store of the Year title again and its enthusiastic young manager Marc McCabe was named Employee of the Year. The store was also highly commended in the Health Promoting Retailer of the Year category.
The Aberdeenshire town of Inverurie has a claim to be one of Scotland’s most successful retailing centres. Even in the recession all of its outlets have been fully occupied and active. It has some great local food and drink retailers and one of those, Mitchells of Inverurie, was another of our winners of more than one award.
The independent outlet, which is linked to a local dairy business and is famous for its home-made oatcakes, was named Health Promoting Retailer of the Year and it also took the Sustainable Retailer of the Year title, as well as being highly commended in the Bread and Bakery Retailer of the Year category.
And Inverurie’s McLeish store, an innovative and visually creative mix of c-store, deli and coffee stop, was also a winner. In fact it was the first winner announced on the night when it took the prize as Chilled Store of the Year. McLeish was also highly commended in the Independent Retailer of the Year category.
The Spar store in Ayr’s Hillfoot Road was able to toast a special success when it was named Bread and Bakery Retailer of the Year.
In Paisley the remarkable news agency business Sinclair Barr, which delivers newspapers and more to a very large part of Renfrewshire and beyond, was another shop that could break out the Champagne – it took the prize of National Lottery Retailer of the Year. It was the first time that the newspapers, magazines, everyday essentials and food-to-go shop had entered the Scottish Grocer Awards.
And another new finalist took the next prize on the night when Spar in Logans Road, Motherwell was named the winner of the Collectables Retailer of the Year award, which acknowledged its expertise and success in the high-turnover product category that covers trading cards, album sets and other collectable lines.
Another new entrant triumphed in the Best Soft Drinks Outlet of the Year Award. The joint venture shop run by Clydebank Co-op and Keystore in Knightswood in Glasgow took the prize and earned a special mention for its soft-drinks recycling promotion.
And yet another new entrant was named Independent Retailer of the Year. Smartways, based in Motherwell, with 10 shops in central Scotland, had run its outlets under a symbol group before deciding to go it alone under its own fascia.
Cults Stores Keystore in Aberdeen had entered the awards programme in the past and in 2014 it repeated its success of a couple of years ago when it took the Tobacco Retailer of the Year Award. In an affluent area, but one where consumers had eventually begun to shift preferences and look for items like price-marked packs, the team had worked hard to maintain success while adapting to market developments.
In the Social Responsibility Award, in the division for stores that were part of a business with more than one outlet, the prize was taken by Spar in Orleans Place in Dundee. The store, another new winner for the Scottish Grocer Awards, is heavily involved in local projects and works closely with local police and agencies.
The 2014 superstar of the shelves, however, turned out to be a shop that has been in finals and taken prizes in the past – the Spar store in the Glasgow district of Thornliebank was the winner of the Merchandising Award.
The Symbol Store of the Year category was another that split into two divisions one for businesses that were running a single outlet under a specific fascia or symbol and the other for businesses that had more than one store running under a single symbol operation. The winner in the single-store division, MyCostcutter in Insch in Aberdeenshire was, for a short time, the only MyCostcutter operating in the UK as it was the first shop to trade under Costcutter’s special food-led premium fascia.
In the division for companies with more than one store under a specific symbol the prize went to the Spar store in the Angus town of Carnoustie.
The win completed a remarkable night for Spar outlets. Stores run under the Spar fascia, including a number run by Spar wholesaler CJ Lang as well as others owned by leading independent Spar operators, took a magnificent seven titles and eight highly commended places.
At the end of the awards ceremony the audience heard that Mo and Roxy Razzaq had been given the very special Award for Industry Achievement.
Roll of Honour
Chilled Store of the Year in association with Muller Wiseman Dairies
Winner
McLeish, Inverurie
Highly Commended
Best-one, Summerhill Court, Aberdeen
Spar, Boswell Park, Ayr
•
City Store of the Year in association with AG Barr
Winner
Nisa Extra Dundee, Perth Road, Dundee
Highly Commended
L&M Stores Premier, Hutcheon Street, Aberdeen
Spar St George’s Cross, Maryhill Road, Glasgow
•
Health Promoting Retailer of the Year in association with SGF Healthy Living Programme
Winner
Mitchells, Inverurie
Highly Commended
Nisa Extra Dundee, Perth Road, Dundee
Spar Dalrymple, Ayrshire
•
Bread and Bakery Retailer of the Year in association with Kingsmill
Winner
Spar Hillfoot, Ayr
Highly Commended
Mitchells, Inverurie
Spar Thornliebank, Glasgow
•
National Lottery Retailer of the Year in association with Camelot
Winner
Sinclair Barr Newsagents, Paisley
Highly Commended
1st Stop 2 Shop, Fintry Drive, Dundee
Icon Stores Ltd, Torry, Aberdeen
•
Collectables Retailer of the Year in association with Topps
Winner
Spar Motherwell, Logans Road, Motherwell
Highly Commended
Loch Lomond News, Loch Lomond Shores, Balloch
McColl’s, Drylaw, Edinburgh
•
Confectionery Retailer of the Year in association with Mars Chocolate UK
Winner
Spar, South Street, Greenock
Highly Commended
Nisa Extra Linwood, Clippens Road, Linwood
Spar, Market Street, Forfar
•
Best Soft Drinks Outlet of the Year in association with Coca-Cola Enterprises
Winner
Clydebank Co-op/Keystore, Knightswood, Glasgow
Highly Commended
L&M Stores Premier, Hutcheon Street, Aberdeen
Shaun’s Premier, Cardonald, Glasgow
•
Independent Retailer of the Year in association with Boost
Winner
Smartways
Highly Commended
Giacopazzi’s, Milnathort
McLeish, Inverurie
•
Tobacco Retailer of the Year in association with Imperial Tobacco
Winner
Cults Stores – Keystore, Aberdeen
Highly Commended
Nisa Local, Bargeddie
Spar Thornliebank, Glasgow
•
Champion of Beer Award in association with Molson Coors Brewing Co
Winner
Spar, South Street, Greenock
Highly Commended
Spar, Macalpine Road, Dundee
Wallyford Day Today, East Lothian
•
Sustainable Retailer of the Year in association with Resource Efficient Scotland
Winner
Mitchells, Inverurie
Highly Commended
Shaun’s Premier, Cardonald, Glasgow
Spar Dalrymple, Ayrshire
•
Social Responsibility Award in association with Diageo
(One store)
Winner
Premier Mo’s Convenience Store, Blantyre
(More than one store)
Winner
Spar, Orleans Place, Dundee
Highly Commended
Spar Renfrew, Paisley Road, Renfrew
•
Merchandising Award in association with P&G
Winner
Spar Thornliebank, Glasgow
Highly Commended
Best-one, Summerhill Court, Aberdeen
Smartways, Lesmahagow
•
Symbol Store of the Year in association with Britvic
(For businesses with one store under a symbol fascia)
Winner
MyCostcutter, Insch
Highly Commended
Wallyford Day Today, East Lothian
(For businesses with more than one store under a symbol fascia)
Winner
Spar, Carnoustie
Highly Commended
Shaun’s Premier, Cardonald, Glasgow
•
Community Champion Award in association with Mondelez International
Winner
Premier Mo’s Convenience Store, Blantyre
Highly Commended
Londis Crianlarich Store
Premier Smeaton Stores, Kirkcaldy
•
Employee of the Year in association with British American Tobacco
Winner
Marc McCabe, Nisa Extra Dundee
Highly Commended
Kashain Arshad, Spar, Logans Road, Motherwell
Cathy Stewart, L&M Stores Premier, Aberdeen
•
Industry Achievement Award in association with Kestrel Premium Lager
Winner
Mo & Roxy Razzaq
Premier Mo’s Convenience Store, Blantyre and Family Shopper,
High Blantyre
