SGF launched the first ever Scottish Local Shop Report at its annual conference yesterday (29th October). The Scottish Parliament congratulated the Federation on the launch, and welcomed the report’s findings.
The data in the report will be used to drive home the importance of the independent convenience store sector to key policy and decision makers in the run up to the Scottish election in 2016.
The report reveals there are 5,602 c-stores in Scotland, with the country containing more c-stores per head of population than the rest of the UK. The sector in Scotland also provides 44,000 jobs.
Other stand out statistics from the report include that the sector in Scotland is very entrepreneurial: 65% of retailers in Scotland are the first person in the family to own or run a convenience store; while 87% of independent convenience store retailers in Scotland have been involved in some form of community activity over the past year. Between 2014 and 2015 turnover in the sector increase by 5%: in Scotland this resulted in one new store opening every week.
The report was developed in partnership with ACS, which recently published its fourth annual Local Shop Report.
