Living in the shadow of Scotland’s biggest city, Paisley has always managed to maintain its own personality and sense of place, but how is the economic climate affecting the town and its local retailers?
by Kevin Scott
Just seven miles from Glasgow city centre, it’s no surprise that Paisley lives in the shadow of its big cousin – in fact, with there being a continuous urban stretch between the towns, it essentially forms part of a larger conurbation that includes Glasgow. That’s not to say Paisley is simply a satellite town though – far from it. This is a town with its own university, a town that has been part of Scotland since the 12th century. Today, it serves as the administrative heart of Renfrewshire and with a population of 80,000 it has a wide retail community – much of which involves CTNs branded up with the famous Paisley Daily Express fascia.
The town grew from the textile and weaving industries gave name to the Paisley Pattern. Today much of the employment in the town that is in engineering and manufacturing while the nearby Glasgow Airport employs a number of people. Many however, commute the short distance to Glasgow. There has been a hole in Paisley’s infrastructure since the 1980s when 5,000 jobs were lost due to the closure of car plants in Linwood, on the outskirts of the town. Much like the closure of Ravenscraig affected the heart of Motherwell, the loss of the car industry had a devastating effect on Paisley.
Today its town centre is like many others in Scotland – not what it once was. The opening of the Braehead Shopping Centre a few miles away led many shoppers to head there instead. However when it comes to local retail the town covers a huge geographical area, and that means that despite the presence of numerous supermarkets, there is a reliance on local retail.
One of these businesses is Sinclair Barr Newsagents, which is located on Glasgow Road just outside the town centre. Owner Des Barr says that while the town has changed, business has changed with it. “It’s been a positive year,” he says. “We open at 5.45 and we’re doing a lot of early trade – lots of new faces among the customers too. People know we’re here and that we can offer what they need from early.”
He adds that the key is now to replicate that throughout the afternoons and into early evening, when it’s a little quieter. As for the town, itself, Des says that it’s too easy for people to run Paisley down. “The council are working hard, what we need is new businesses, that offer new things. Another chip shop is only going to take business from the two already here. I don’t want to attack Braehead or Silverburn shopping centres – that’s what consumers want. The key for Paisley is to work out how to complete.”
Londis retailer Javid Ghafur adds: “The town isn’t what you’d call a robust retailing community, but it does okay. I see discounters are moving in and that will get people visiting. Braehead obviously takes a lot of people but for those travelling by bus, Paisley town centre is very much open for business.”
Javid Ghafur
Londis
With an award-winning Londis store in the Foxbar area of the town, Javid has long been an integral part of the community he serves. “Foxbar itself is fairly upbeat all things considered,” says Javid. “There have been no mass redundancies here and that’s the sort of things that can drag a community down. People might be tightening their belts, but that’s what everyone is doing.”
The Foxbar area is far from affluent, but Javid has enjoyed healthy sales of late – although admits that this year hasn’t been quite as successful. “Basket spend is down – customers aren’t being as tempted by promotional deals as they used to be,” he says. “They come into the shop on a particular mission and they’re not distracted from that. I see many come in with a shopping list so promotions are less effective.”
Javid says this is simply down to people watching what they’re spending and being more conscious of waste. “When people buy a loaf of bread, they make sure they use every last slice,” he says.
Away from this and Javid notes that pound lines are growing, in particular, lunchtime poundlines like crisps multipacks, and Javid has been working closely with Londis to ensure he has a steady supply of deals like this.
He adds: “Off-trade and confectionery are ticking over, but there will always be a supermarket doing them cheaper. I’m pleased with our fresh sales, they’ve came on well.”
The good news for Javid is that his excellence as a local retailer means the current dip in sales is actually more in line with expectations, as he explains: “Jim Carroll from Londis actually said we over-sold on what they’d expect so the level we’re at now is probably right, but that won’t stop me trying to boost sales further,” says Javid, a man who likes a retail challenge.
Jack Purba
Shopsmart
Around the outskirts of Paisley are many housing schemes and it is in an arcade in one such area that Jack Purba runs a Shopsmart store. He’s been there for two years and having given himself a chance to learn about the community and what will work, he’s gearing up for a major refit – and with a post office and coffee shop combined into the store, it has bags of potential.
“Our shop has been doing well,” he says. “We’ve been here for almost two years now and in January I’m going to be making a major investment in the store.” Jack may also be changing fascias but he doesn’t reveal who to – mainly because he’s still looking at his options. We’re going to make the Post Office more open plan but that hinges on the Post Office giving us ‘main’ status instead of ‘local’ when changes come in.”
Given the local area and the importance of a post office, he’s hopeful that will come through soon.
There is a Day Today store opposite Jack however he doesn’t seem it as direct competition. “They don’t do what we do. We’re more of a community shop thanks to the post office, while they’re more reliant on alcohol sales.” The proximity of two supermarkets hasn’t put Jack off his stride either. “I’ve spent this last 18 months testing the water and I think a refit will really work for us. The supermarkets nearby but don’t affect us. Again, so much is down to the post office. People need to come in here and when they pick up their pension of benefits we try to make sure they spend as much of it in the store as possible.”
