Carrying on a legacy of help for the local area
Winner – Premier Broadway Convenience Store
Community Retailer of the Year – supported by Hovis
Interview with Sophie Williams, assistant store manager at Premier Broadway Convenience Store
A LOCAL convenience store can mean a lot for members of the community.
For some shoppers, it can be where they have a chance to chat and catch up with people – sometimes with it being the only time that day where they have a conversation with people.
For others, it can be a place where they can have peace of mind when picking up their messages, knowing they will get support from members of staff in their shopping, or to lend an ear.
Creating this support bubble in stores can often go a long way for customers visiting, and the team at Premier Broadway Convenience Store in Oxgangs has made it abundantly clear that everyone is welcome in their store.
For over 40 years now, the store has been a pillar of the community and has supported countless families in the area.
And now, the third generation of this family-run store is set to carry this on, as Sophie Williams, assistant store manager, has said her own parents have been a massive inspiration in her own approach towards helping the community.
Sophie said: “I have grown up in this store, so I’ve been involved in this community since before I can even remember.
“It’s just always instilled in me that you should go above and beyond to help your customers and, I know it sounds cliché, it really can be like one big family.
“My own mum and dad have seen entire generations of families growing up through school, then going off to uni and eventually coming back in, so it can just be a really wholesome experience.
“For me now, it’s just second nature to want to be involved, you see them almost daily and you want to get to know them.”
It is evident that the entire team at Broadway Convenience Store are invested in the lives of their customers, while also recognising the ways in which the store can be used as a community hub to support those in need across the area.
This dedication makes up just part of the reason why Scottish Grocer judges saw fit to award Premier Broadway Convenience Store the Community Retailer of the Year 2024 award.
And evidence of this dedication can be seen clearly from the team’s decision to use the store’s 40th anniversary as an opportunity to give back to the wider community, with the event running across an entire week.
Sophie said: “We really wanted to do the best that we could do to help out the community because we wouldn’t still be here after 40 years if it wasn’t for them.
“For up to six months beforehand, we were looking at ways to give back to.
“We had so much support from across the industry for it but especially from Booker, we really couldn’t have done that full week without them.
“All our suppliers wanted to pitch in to help as well, so it was great getting to have so many people coming together to do their bit to help out.
“In the end, we had so many competitions that people could enter, we could give away prizes like iPads to customers and we had customers go round our store and do a ‘Supermarket Sweep’ style shop and they got over £100 of products.
“Everyone who came in that week was just so happy and there was a really nice buzz to the Broadway throughout.”
This generous spirit can be found the year-round across the store, with Sophie making use of her own talents to build support for locals in the area.
This has seen the assistant store manager take on the task of running two separate cabaret events in aid of raising funds for customers.
The first was in aid of a terminally ill shopper who had a brain tumour and was past the point of treatment. Due to this, Sophie, as well as other members of the community, banded together for this cabaret night and managed to raise as much as £5,000.
The costs from this went towards the woman’s funeral as well as her children, which meant she could pass away taking some comfort from the knowledge that her family would be looked after.
The second of these events was in aid of raising funds for a teenage boy who had developed a rare form of bladder cancer.
Sophie said: “The first one was such a success and touched so many people in the community that we felt we had to do the same again and help him out.
“He was only 15 when he was diagnosed, so it really was a tough story to hear. After this, we brought together local dance academies to do routines and Graham Watson, from Moniaive, came up and did a DJ set for the night as well. So, it was a really special night and we managed to raise £11,000 to help this boy.
“And it was a happy ending, as well, we just recently held his end of treatment party at the end of last year, so it was just this lovely, full-circle moment to see him back on the road to recovery.
“It just shows the kind of people we have in this area, too – we aren’t blessed with all the money here but people are so generous. They’d give you the shirt off their back if you asked for it, we just have such a great community spirit here.”
Emblematic of this is eight-year-old Sam, who suffers from muscular dystrophy, but also wants to make sure he can help out others where he can.
With help from Broadway Convenience Store, Sam tours the ward of Edinburgh Sick Kids Hospital, where he receives treatment, to help gift out comics, magazines and sweets to other children.
Sophie said: “Sam is such a little gem in the community, he’s got such a difficult life that isn’t going to get any better but doesn’t let it get to him.
“He’s often in and out of hospital, so we give him different treats and magazines that he wants to give out to other kids and help cheer up their days.
“And he just loves coming into our store when he can, so we made sure he got a special treat for his seventh birthday and made him a VIP for the day.
“He got a big birthday badge that said VIP Premier Pal, a bag of goodies and a birthday cake with candles so we could all sing Happy Birthday to him.”
Already a beacon of support in the local area, Sophie has added her own way of ensuring Broadway Convenience remains a true community hub for so many in need and is set to carry on this legacy moving forward.
Sophie said: “While we don’t have anything on the cards as of yet, I really do want to carry on this legacy throughout 2025.
“I’m aiming to take on more responsibilities from my mum and dad so they can take a well-earned step back from the store as well.”
