Leading lights of convenience retail are chosen by judges to take away top awards
EXPERIENCED and respected retailers won the main prizes at the Scottish Grocer Awards 2024.
Asiyah and Jawad Javed, of A&J Alloa Road Shop – Spar, Stenhousemuir, were presented with the top gong for Industry Achievement.
And, just before that, Billy Gatt, of Premier Whitehills, near Banff, received the Entrepreneur Award.
Both Jawad and Asiyah gave brief speeches to an audience that was clearly delighted by their win.
Jawad said: “It’s such an honour to win this award, especially after the countless hours of work done behind the scenes to reach this goal.
“As you guys know, we have won many awards before but this, by far, is the best.
“I just want to say thank you to all the staff, family, consumers and to the Scottish Grocer Awards for the support and for getting us to this point.”
Asiyah added: “We are both honoured and a little bit surprised to receive the Scottish Grocer Awards Industry Achievement Award. We didn’t expect to win that for another 20 years!
“We would like to thank our family, children and Spar Scotland – without their support and advice, we wouldn’t be where we are today.
“Thanks also to Scottish Grocer for nominating us against some excellent stores.”
Earlier, unveiling the winners for Industry Achievement, Scottish Grocer editor Giles Blair said the judges from the magazine and sponsor Swan by Republic Technologies UK had been seeking retailers who put the community at the heart of what they did.
The adjudicators had also been on the hunt for store owners who had demonstrated long-term commercial success and real entrepreneurial drive.
Blair added: “After all, such retailers are true ambassadors for the convenience channel and their success stories serve to highlight why the industry is so important to the fabric of society and the economy.”
He reminded the audience of how Asiyah and Jawad had achieved global fame for their outstanding efforts during the Covid pandemic to support NHS workers and members of their community – donating £35,000 worth of equipment to the local hospital.
He told how their impressive community work had continued through providing free hot food for the homeless or those in financial hardship.
They had also bought a struggling local desserts manufacturer – safeguarding jobs and growing the business massively – as well as investing heavily in a major redevelopment of their store.
Revealing Billy as the person lifting the penultimate accolade – the Entrepreneur Award – host Elaine C Smith told how he had made a truly substantial investment to create a purpose-built, customer-focused store with a car park, cafe and massive production kitchen to prepare ready meals and food-to-go options sold in the shop.
She said: “Major points of difference over rivals – such as the cafe, beer cave, food and drink-to-go section, community notice board and post office service – make this entrepreneur’s outlet a genuine destination store.
“This retailer makes sure they have a very high-profile engagement with the community and local good causes – even running a library service for the council after the local library closed.
“The visionary developments this entrepreneur has led have seen them become a major employer in the area.”
Afterwards, Billy, who also won Licensed Retailer of the Year, thanked Scottish Grocer, his family and store staff and added: “It’s all a bit humbling, to be honest.”
