Congratulations to the team at Scotmid, and particularly those at the store in Stockbridge, Edinburgh, for being named Convenience Retailer of the Year at the Convenience Retail Awards last week.
It’s a triumph worth celebrating for a number of reasons, but the most impressive thing about the Stockbridge store is that it is the culmination of a three-year project to devise premium quality, but locally-grounded c-stores for today’s shoppers.
Fresh and local foods have pride of place as you walk in, particularly the bakery section which makes a feature of delicious goods from award-winning local bakers. But as well as having an attractive design and an upmarket feel, there is also value, innovation and top-notch customer service to drive shopper loyalty. In retail, there is always a difficult balance to find between discipline and imagination, but our champion store gets it absolutely right.
The industry is ultra-competitive, and the judging for the awards was, too, but everyone is impressed by what Scotmid has delivered at Stockbridge and at its other black fascia stores in and around Edinburgh.
The success of the project shows that, where there are competitors all around, you can take the brave route and go upmarket to a premium model to establish your point of difference. And being famous for fresh and local foods is a very strong position for any local convenience store to be in.
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