It is certainly true that competing with supermarkets on price is an uphill struggle for independent local shops but we are determined to do whatever we can to keep the prices of our basic groceries as low as possible. You will not find a single item in our shop which is priced higher than its supplier’s recommended retail price.
At the same time we have introduced variety by stocking a range of delicatessen fine foods which we believe cannot be matched by any outlet (supermarket or not!) in Scourie, Lochinver or Ullapool.
At the same time we have introduced variety by stocking a range of delicatessen fine foods which we believe cannot be matched by any outlet (supermarket or not!) in Scourie, Lochinver or Ullapool.
In order to survive, small independent grocers such as our own need to reach a viable level of turnover by convincing local residents that it is in their own best interests to do their weekly basket shop with us rather than using us simply as a ‘convenience store’ when they run out of milk or coffee. As the old cliché goes: ‘Use It Or Lose It’!
However, we are not so naïve as to think that we can simply sit back and expect shoppers to flock to Drumbeg Stores because of ‘community spirit’ alone. Our regular customers already know that we can offer them the sort of personal attention and
However, we are not so naïve as to think that we can simply sit back and expect shoppers to flock to Drumbeg Stores because of ‘community spirit’ alone. Our regular customers already know that we can offer them the sort of personal attention and
flexibility (“Tell us what you need and we’ll get it in!”) which impersonal supermarkets cannot, but they also need to see that we are offering real benefits in terms of the cost, quality and variety of our goods.
We moved to Drumbeg from Edinburgh in July 2005 with our daughters Charlie (then two years old) and Georgie (one), taking over the little shop and post office which has served Drumbeg and surrounding hamlets since the beginning of the last century. After many years in teaching, we made this career move at a time when both rural Post Offices and village shops throughout the United Kingdom are disappearing at a rate of knots every year, the latter simply unable to compete with the enormous buying power of the all-powerful supermarket chains. Last year alone, more than 2000 ‘corner shops’ went out of business across Britain.
It was, above all, our willingness to “go the extra mile’ for our customers which, in December 2006, persuaded the judges of the Best Rural Retailer competition to award the accolade of “Best Village Shop in Scotland” to Drumbeg Stores.
