The number of Scottish convenience sector staff has plummeted 10% dropping from 55,000 to 49,000, according to the Scottish Grocers’ Federation’s (SGF’s) Scottish Local Shop Report 2025, published with the support of the Association of Convenience Stores. The figures show just how hard Scotland has been hammered, compared with UK convenience staff figures seeing a decline of just 0.4%, according to the ACS Local Shop Report 2025.
The reduction in staff numbers was coupled with a drop in certain local lifeline services, with the percentage of stores housing Post Office services down by a fifth to 20%. Meanwhile, the percentage of those offering free to use cash machines was down from 46% to 40% and the amount of shops offering prescription collection had halved from 4% to 2%.
The number of convenience stores in Scotland has remained consistent at 5,228 (marginally up from 5,220 last year).
The report also showed a reduced spend in stores and fewer items being bought per customer, which may be linked to struggling household budgets and the cost of living, with average shopper spend dropping from £8.04 to £7.81 and the forecast yearly sales dropping by £0.6bn to £48.8bn in 2025 (UK wide). The report also showed a drop in overall hours worked by UK convenience colleagues, dipping from 9.8m in 2024, to 9.5m in 2025.
Meanwhile, employer National Insurance contributions have shot up to £396m, an increase of £175m on the previous year (UK wide), with year-on-year hikes to the National Living Wage increasing by 33% since 2019 (from £8.21 to £12.21 per hour).
Additional cost pressures, such as retail crime; tighter regulations across a range of product areas; and a real terms decline in business rates reliefs have also resulted in retailers putting less funds back into their stores, with investment down 5% from £94m in 2024 to £89m in 2025. Of those who are investing in their businesses, a quarter are spending on crime prevention measures, which is the fourth most common investment after refrigeration, till systems and shelving.
Ahead of his Welcome Address at the SGF Annual Conference in Glasgow today (1 October), SGF President and independent retailer for Watson’s Grocers – Moniaive, Graham Watson, said:
“Local stores provide many essential services close to where people live, and they are part of the fabric of their community. In the years since Covid, we have seen the sector make great strides, offering more jobs, delivering new services, and providing an important economic multiplier for local areas.
“Pressure from both external factors and from government, however, is putting many businesses under strain, and we are now seeing worrying job losses and critical services disappearing. That is why we need a more holistic approach from government, looking at the broader impacts of policy on key services and sectors.
“Everyone agrees that providing flexible local employment and services such as Post Office and access to cash, is part of the ‘full basket’ that our sector can offer. Albeit many of those services have limited viability in their own right.
“That’s not possible when retailers can’t afford to pay staff or reinvest in their business because they are swamped with higher employment costs, a rising cost of doing business, retail crime, and ever tighter regulation.”
