Spar Renfrew celebrated its 30th anniversary last month, while the Sadiq family business marked its 40th birthday. SLR caught up with Saleem Sadiq to take a look back at a remarkable business.
By Antony Begley
“Before we even came to Scotland we were steeped in retail,” laughs Saleem Sadiq, whose Spar Renfrew store celebrated its remarkable 30th anniversary on 22 March. “My grandmother was involved in retail back in Pakistan and we were known as the ‘Huttie Wallahs,’ the shopkeepers. And, as they say, once a Huttie Wallah, always a Huttie Wallah!”
Saleem first came to the UK in 1967 with his older brother Khalid and his father. “I was 10 years old and couldn’t speak a word of English,” he laughs. Aged 11 I went into primary one! But within a few years I was in high school and I did alright.”
His dad had been given permission by his own father to try his luck in Scotland for five years with the promise that he’d return to Pakistan. “True to his word, my dad went back after five years,” explains Saleem, “but then he asked my grandfather for another five years!
“My dad had been in the army but was discharged to come to the UK and he got a job as a bus conductor, then became a driver and an inspector. In 1968, my brothers Iqbal and Ashy and my sister Shamim joined us. Umjit was the only one of us to be born over here.”
First steps
Before long, however, Saleem’s dad wanted to be his own boss and bought a small newsagents on Maxwell road on the south side of Glasgow. “He had agreed the deal with the owner, a man named John Murray, but he was £250 short – which was a lot of money in 1968. He tried nine banks and got nowhere then, at the last minute, Bank of Scotland gave him a banker’s cheque for the £250 and the deal was done,” says Saleem.
The fact that the family business still banks with Bank of Scotland tells you something about the importance Saleem and his siblings place on loyalty.
“At the time we lived in Ibrox, and Khalid and I used to cycle over there every weekend to open the shop and give dad a long lie,” he says. Khalid was 15 at this point and Saleem was just 12.
During that time, Saleem’s uncle arrived in Scotland and the business began to grow. The brothers ultimately owned four newsagents before selling them to enter the restaurant business.
By the time Saleem got involved, the family owned three restaurants. As a dyed-in-the-wool family of Huttie Wallahs, however, they then decided to sell the restaurants to get back into retail.
Back in the game
“We bought the first store in Duntocher in December 1984,” recalls Saleem. “It was a Spar store and my main recollection is that people asked us why we were planning to stay with Spar because the perception at that time was that Spar was expensive, and that’s probably still true today! But what we saw in Spar was professionalism and discipline. We felt it was the right way to run a business. We didn’t want to be touring round cash and carrys chasing deals. We wanted to run the shop well, and efficiently and professionally.”
The next store to join the group was another Spar store in Bonhill. “We bought it, closed it for a full refit, then reopened it and doubled the turnover in the first week,” says Saleem. “We just got all the basics right, treated our customers with respect and we got the rewards.”
Saleem’s dad, however, was never very keen on the Bonhill store. “It was in the middle of a housing scheme and felt closed in at night. Dad was never keen for us to be in there, so after five years we sold it,” he says.
That was in 1992 and, having offloaded one store, the family soon acquired another in Knightswood and promptly took it into Spar.
A year or so later, Saleem was invited to have a look at a store in Renfrew owned by the Co-op. Nothing doing at that point but, around a year later, he was invited back for another look and a fresh deal – and this time the family decided to go for it.
They gutted it, rebuilt it more or less from the ground up and re-opened on 22 March 1994. The result? “Sales doubled in the first week again,” laughs Saleem. And, 30 years down the line, the family has just celebrated 30 years in the store, a remarkable achievement.
Party time
The family hosted a huge in-store party that saw a host of locals, customers, family, friends and colleagues attend, including Spar Scotland CEO Colin McLean.
McLean says: “Congratulations to Saleem, the Sadiq family and all the staff and customers of Spar Renfrew. It is a wonderful family history in convenience retailing and today a brilliant Spar business. Local retailing is at the heart of everything they do, and we wish Saleem continued success with his business – both in this generation and the next.”
What is so striking about Spar Renfrew has been the passion and vision that Saleem has been able to bring to the store consistently and unfailingly for three full decades. The store has always been near the cutting edge of local retailing; the wall of countless industry awards behind the till tells its own story.
“Our guiding principle has always been to just do things right,” explains Saleem. “That’s what has made us successful in this store for 30 years and successful as a business for 40. We learned very early on that nobody wants to come to a messy, dirty store. Just like everybody wants a nice house, everybody wants a nice store. It’s not complicated.”
Well, running a successful convenience retailing business for 30 years can be complicated, but Saleem and family have a knack for making it look easy.
“I think it comes down to passion and drive and a work ethic,” ponders Saleem. “We’re natural-born Huttie Wallahs and I get a buzz from retail in a way I don’t get from other sectors. We don’t want to have all of our eggs in one basket, so we have some properties, we have a nurseries business, we recently bought a football pitch complex. It’s all great but nothing gives me the buzz I get from retail. I don’t know where the years have gone, but I would happily do it all over again.”
Full speed ahead
In typical fashion, Saleem has no retirement plans yet. There’s too much to be done.
“We recently sold the Duntocher store to our Postmaster, although we retain an interest. The Co-op took back the Knightswood store after the 21-year lease expired, but it doesn’t seem to have done so well since then. But we’ve still got stores on Kilbowie Road and at St George’s Cross and we’re busy – and doing well. A lot of retailers tell me it’s been difficult for the last while, but we’re doing well, especially here in Renfrew.
“We had a great Christmas and we’re up 12% year-on-year, although inflation obviously played some part in that. But we’re doing well. Our home delivery business is also doing really well and accounts for about 15% of our turnover and 17% of our sales uplift. But there’s a lot more we can do with it. It’s the future, as far as I’m concerned.”
Over and above all that, there are a couple of major refits in the pipeline, including at Renfrew. “We’ve got some big plans and we’re considering some quite unusual ideas,” he says. “It’s exciting.”
Perhaps surprisingly, considering the family now has “15 or 16 kids,” only one of them is actively involved in the business, Saleem’s son Waseem.
“We never groomed them to come into the business,” explains Saleem. “And they’re all doctors and lawyers and dentists and opticians and teachers and engineers and architects! Waseem trained in accountancy, so that’s prepared him well for the business. We never asked him to join, he just wanted to, but we’ll be looking for him to take the business forward for the next 30 years!”
As well as Waseem, Saleem can also rely on a “wonderful” team at the store. “I’m very proud of my staff. I’ve always believed that if you treat your team well, they’ll look after you.”
It’s been a rollercoaster 30 years and it looks like there’s still plenty in the tank for the years ahead for a most remarkable retailing family.
An indication of the popularity of Saleem and siblings is the fact that a TikTok post showing the family holding their special 30th birthday cake outside the store received over 30,000 views.
“It’s nice, isn’t it?” concludes Saleem. “30,000 hits on our 30th anniversary.” It is indeed, and we look forward to the 40th birthday party in 2034.
