Snow‑laden roads and perilously icy paths saw Scottish local shops deliver for customers in more ways than one.
by Sarah Britton
SLR caught up with small stores in the north of Scotland during the first week of the new year as they bent over backwards to look after locals when heavy snowfall and sub‑zero temperatures left many roads blocked.
Brave Billy Gatt and his team at Premier Whitehills on the Aberdeenshire coast made multiple trips in the treacherous weather. “We’ve been busy since Hogmanay,” he told SLR. “The challenge has been getting the milk and bread and everything. I’ve been doing runs to Elgin and Aberdeen which, in these conditions, is about an hour and a half. I went to the cash and carry six times in four days. Everything is selling out quick.”
Demand for home delivery had virtually doubled overnight, he claimed. “Our Scoot delivery’s been mental busy! Before we’d do 12 deliveries a day, 17 on a busy day. Now we’re on 30 a day with an average spend of about £50.
“In the first week of January you would expect a bit of tail off, back 10–15%. I would say overall, we’re up by 20% this week across the board. Delivery has probably taken about 27% of income in the last few days.”
Billy has even been delivering to rural locations more than 10 miles away where “the snow is up over your ankles”.
“There are a lot of villages near us where they didn’t have any bread or milk for a few days. The Co‑op in Aberchirder didn’t have anything, so we’ve made an effort to go there and get supplies and keep them going.”
Traffic chaos
Meanwhile, in Aberdeen, local suppliers saved the day for Cults stores. “It’s been horrendous, there are cars stuck everywhere,” said shop owner Chris Cobb, whose newspaper delivery round comprises 160 customers. “We didn’t get any newspapers at all on Sunday so we couldn’t do our home news delivery. Luckily, we’ve got a lot of local suppliers, and they’ve been getting through okay. Our local baker, Sinclairs Of Rhynie, which is north of us in Huntly, got through.
“We completely sold out of all our milk, bread and softies on Tuesday, and we ordered extra on Wednesday. Trying to get up to the cash and carry or whatever would just be an absolute nightmare, so luckily, we have quite a good stockholding and our chilled order came from Fife Creamery no problem.” Butchery deliveries from Haigs in Aberdeen and Charles McHardy from Stonehaven were also successful, followed by the store’s weekly delivery from KeyStore on Tuesday evening.
“Sales were down on Sunday; we lost 50% of our business and then the schools were closed. But all our local products are flying out the door, and the good thing is because you get from local people, we’re getting supplies… whereas people are saying the Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s down the road, their shelves are empty.”
Chris has been making deliveries to elderly residents. “People appreciate you doing things like that. Obviously, we’re not going to put ourselves in any danger doing it. But I think that’s when we pride ourselves on being a community store.”
Panic buying
Joel Gardiner, who owns KeyStore Hopeman & Post Office, near Elgin in Moray, struggled to keep the shop stocked up with the essentials. “There are a lot of older folk in the village and they panic buy when the weather sets in, so we ran out of a lot of stock very quickly,” he explained. “It was the same for a lot of the shops in the area, we just had to wait for our delivery to come in [on Tuesday]. So we were a few days without bread and milk, but we had all the other bits and bobs to get by.”
Joel did his best to ensure no one in the area went without. “I offered deliveries for people who struggle to get out of the house,” says Joel. “We live in a small village so it’s very community‑oriented. I was helping grit the roads and pushing cars up the road.”
Wholesaler JW Filshill highlighted the “sterling efforts” of staff in ensuring KeyStore customers received timely deliveries during the recent spell of wintry weather.
John O’Neil, Senior Operations Manager Outbound, said: “Our drivers delivering across Aberdeenshire in particular deserve huge praise for their resilience, attitude and determination.
“In some cases, drivers have had to be pulled out from deep snow while attempting deliveries – yet they continued to do everything possible to ensure vital supplies reached communities, including those in areas declared a major incident.”
Spar Scotland also soldiered on. “Northern Scotland has been put to the test, and we couldn’t be more grateful for the people who stepped up,” said CJ Lang. “A massive thank you and well done to our SPAR Scotland teams. Because of your hard work, our communities stayed stocked and connected despite the weather.
“Our thanks also go out to our local suppliers for their incredible resilience. We’re especially grateful to the team at J.G. Ross (Bakers) Limited, who went above and beyond to get through the blizzards. Thank you for helping us keep our shelves stocked for customers in the communities worst affected.”
Up on the Isle of Skye, Rankins Supermarket had relatively light snowfall. Store manager, Ruth McLeish, claimed that some staff were unable to reach the shop, but most had managed. “The larger supermarkets that do deliveries to the island, they’ve not made it through, so we’ve had more people in for the essentials,” she added. “We’re doing okay compared to lots of other places.”
Dogged determination
Over in New Pitsligo, Julie‑Ann Whyte and her team showed dogged determination to get food delivered to customers in need.
“It’s been crazy here!” she told SLR. “Deliveries are delayed and when they do arrive, people are panic buying.” Repeated bouts of heavy snow have left her feeling like it’s Groundhog Day as she desperately tries to clear the snow from the store entrance and make it as safe as possible for customers to access.
“We’re delivering on foot to the elderly and vulnerable, but that’s just in the village, it’s impossible to get to customers in the country,” she said.
She did, however, manage to carry out a delivery further afield, driving through areas where the snow was several feet high with the help of a customer’s 4×4.
She was full of praise for her local suppliers, including CJ Grant and Ythan Bakery in Ellon, for keeping shelves stocked with bread and eggs, and also gave thanks to her customers who helped out earlier in the week. “They arrived for milk and bread and ended up directing traffic and lifting 396 items off a couple of pallets that got stuck in the snow!”
When the snow finally melted, Julie‑Ann flagged up on Facebook the need for people to continue to shop locally, especially given that many small stores currently had a surplus of local produce following the snow.
Her post received over 1,200 likes and numerous messages of support. Local resident Kathryn Johnstone said: “A big thank you. I came for milk, eggs and bread and you had it all. Three loud cheers for our local shops.”
Another grateful customer, Rosie Wood, added: “The village shops have been amazing keeping us all going… Don’t forget to support them throughout the rest of the year.”
