SCOTTISH Grocer is 90 – and what a difference nine decades make. It might be hard to imagine such a life now, but when the first issue of what was then called The Scottish Grocer and Provision Trader went to press on 10 February, 1928 there were no screens, there was no software, the pocket calculator was a pipe dream and the first barcodes were still decades off.
As Scottish retailers in 1928 were picking up the debut issue of their very own trade publication, John Logie Baird was months away from demonstrating the world’s first colour television transmission, while Alexander Fleming wouldn’t accidentally discover Penicillin until Scottish Grocer was in its seventh month.
To say Scottish Grocer has covered some pretty major changes in retailing and society at large over its 90 year history is to put it mildly.
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“We offer the services of The Scottish Grocer and Provision Trader to every retailer who is keenly interested in his business, enterprising and progressive; who wants to keep abreast of the times; who wants to be conversant with all the latest trade movements; who wants to know all that is latest and best in the matter of supplies; who wants to learn what his trade organisations are doing for his benefit; who wants to get acquainted with all the brightest and most up-to-date ideas for the conduct of his business.”
– The Scottish Grocer and Provision Trader,
February 1928
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Britain’s place in the world – and the produce available as a result – was markedly different from today, something which can be seen in those early issues of Scottish Grocer. It’s fair to say that fresh and local is now a major focus for many of the brands in Scotland’s stores, but in the first days of our publication the trend of the time was for all things colonial, as retailers were urged to support the Empire by snapping up produce from as far afield as Australia and New Zealand.
It wasn’t all Empire in 1928 however, as Scottish retailers were also active in building relationships with neighbours in Europe, an issue which certainly grabs its fair share of headlines in our time.
As Scottish Grocer was finding its feet, many of its readers where finding their sea legs as they embarked on what we might call a study tour – with a team of 300 (then described as retailers and wives) heading out from the port of Leith to Denmark to learn about all things bacon.
Whether the study tour’s trips to Danish castles and Hamlet’s Grave helped to boost bacon sales at home remains unanswered, but going by Scottish Grocer’s coverage of the trip, the retailers who attended definitely viewed the expedition as worth while.
Readers with concerns for the future today should also take some comfort in knowing that the sky appears to have always been falling, in one way or another, for just about all of Scottish Grocer’s history.
In one editorial published in 1959 the headline warned that “One in 5 Grocers Will Soon Be Out Of Business”, there was plenty of fear around the potential consequences of Decimalisation or “D-Day” as it was referred to in 1971, and if there is anyone out there who didn’t get their fill of European referendum chatter over the last few years, there’s plenty more concern to be found in coverage of the Referendum on the European Community in 1975.
Despite several warnings of industry crisis down the years, Scottish Grocer has never had a shortage of talented retailers running successful businesses to cover.
As retailers face challenges caused by Brexit uncertainty, new data protection rules, the raging debate over the deposit return scheme, food price inflation and plenty more it might be worth remembering on the more difficult days that Scotland’s retailers have taken on a lot since Scottish Grocer issue number one.
Launched in a time of peace between two calamitous world wars, there was more than a hint of idealism in that first issue of Scottish Grocer, with the editor calling for an “up-to-date and progressive publication”, a publication which would serve as “the voice of the grocer and provision trades in Scotland – a Scottish journal for Scottish readers dealing exclusively with Scottish affairs.”
While today’s Scottish Grocer editorial team would never presume to speak on behalf of retailers, more than a few of whom are far from shy about voicing their opinions for themselves, there is advice from that first issue which definitely still rings true today:
“Let your interest in The Scottish Grocer be a personal one; it will be your journal furthering and protecting your interests and we want you to feel that you have had a share in its successful development.
“Let your contribution to its progress be something more than your subscription; encourage it with your advice and suggestions; after all, it is to be your paper, and you know better than anybody what you would like to see in it.”
