Small stores in the north of Scotland have bent over backwards to look after locals after heavy January snowfall and sub-zero temperatures left numerous roads blocked and vulnerable customers isolated.
Brave Billy Gatt and his team at Premier Whitehills on the Aberdeenshire coast have made multiple trips in the treacherous weather. “We’ve been really busy since Hogmanay,” he said. “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 in either direction. 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! 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 over 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.”
Meanwhile, in Aberdeen, local suppliers saved the day for Cults Stores. “It’s been horrendous, there are cars stuck everywhere,” said 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. 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 and his staff have overcome the cold and snow to make 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.”
Joel Gardiner, who owns Keystore Hopeman & Post Office, near Elgin in Moray struggled to keep the shop stocked up with the essentials as worried shoppers went into overdrive. “There are a lot of older folk in the village, so they panic buy when the weather sets in, so we ran out of a lot stock very quickly,” he explains. “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. We live in a small village so it’s very community-oriented, so I was helping grit the roads and pushing cars up the road.”
Further East in New Pitsligo, Julie-Ann Whyte and her team have shown 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 entrance of Whyte’s of New Pitsligo.
“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 heavy snow with the help of a customer’s 4×4.
She was full of praise for her local suppliers, including C J 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!”
Spar Scotland also soldiered on, with drivers navigating extremely challenging conditions to ensure food reached shelves and retailers working hard to keep their stores running.
Up on the Isle of Skye, Rankins Supermarket narrowly missed the heavy snow. “We’ve had a couple of inches, but because we’re a little island in the middle of the sea we don’t tend to get a massive amount,” said store manager Ruth McLeish. “It’s more the mainland that struggles to keep the roads clear.”
She claimed that some staff were unable to reach the store, 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 ok compared to lots of other places.”
The Scottish Government’s Resilience Room (SGORR) met yesterday afternoon (Thursday 8th January) to consider the ongoing response to the severe weather in northern Scotland. The meeting was chaired by Justice Secretary Angela Constance, who said: “Following five days of amber warnings and hugely challenging snow and ice conditions across northern Scotland, progress to fully recover continues.”
She noted that snow ploughs, gritters and blowers had been out in force, but conceded that while trunk roads were operational, local roads were still impacted and conditions remained harsh.
“There are yellow weather warnings in place overnight for most of Scotland, and with Storm Goretti set to affect other parts of the UK and a cold but still unpredictable weather picture for Scotland over the weekend, it is clear that impacts will continue to be felt in the coming days.”
