Everything in moderation. It’s a phrase that haunts us all the morning after the Christmas night out. The flipside to that rather flat idiom is that life without indulgence is a life half lived. Now and again it does you good to forget where the line is that divides moderation and excess. The problem we have in Scotland is that many people out there don’t even know this line exists.
So, something needs done about our diet. That’s the message from the recently created agency Food Standards Scotland, whose Chief Executive Geoff Ogle puts forward his case very succinctly in this very magazine.
Where does that leave convenience retailers? We are the purveyors of the discretionary foods Ogle writes about, those that may be enjoyable, but which don’t provide a whole lot of nutrition. The argument when it comes to selling tobacco has long been that as long as it’s a legal product then we’ll keep selling it responsibly. Do we really want to get into the same debate over soft drinks, confectionery, crisps, cakes, pastries? Do we really need the precise location and the visibility of strawberry tarts dictated to us by the Government?
Even so, it would seem that such measures could be taken by the Government, forcibly changing the way certain products are sold. This is not helpful. As ever, it is an education process that’s required, not more dictatorial policy. But common sense is not an ally of the Government’s and so we could well see restrictions on merchandising the sorts of products that keep convenience stores in business.
One solution could be to make the first move, to show that as an industry we are doing what we can. The SGF Healthy Living Programme is key to this, but there are further options. That’s why at Woodlands Local we’ve decided to change the range of products available at the tillpoint. This does not mean we’ll be removing all confectionery – we don’t believe that’s the answer. But what we will do is make healthier snacks more abundant in that highly impulsive area, and we’ll be monitoring their sales to see if there’s a change in habits. If, as an industry, we start to help our shoppers make more informed choices, hopefully the Government will leave us alone to do what we do best.
Finally, a moment of trumpet blowing if you’ll indulge me. Last month SLR was named Business & Professional Magazine of the Year at the Scottish Magazine Awards, ending a great 2015 on as high a high as possible. As Bryan Adams once nearly said, everything we do, we do it for Scotland’s local retailers. A big thanks then, to everyone involved in producing SLR (Antony, Findlay, Mia, Émer, Susan, Donald, Richard, Cara, Chloe and Geraldine), and here’s to a spectacular 2016.
Kevin Scott, Editor
