Sustainability and community is at the heart of everything that Armadale Stores does, from its food to its bags.
Sustainability and community is at the heart of everything that Armadale Stores does, from its food to its bags.
MENTION sustainability and you can almost hear the groan from most retailers. Trading is tougher than ever so putting extra effort and investment into sustainability is not often at the front of a convenience store owners mind.
However, it was the opportunity to start a store from scratch that led to Armadale Stores on the Isle of Skye to put sustainability at the core of its business plan that ensured it won the Scottish Grocer’s Sustainability Champion Award in 2024.
The store, which is based in the village of Armadale in Sleat, Skye, has been open since 2021. There were previously two smaller stores in the village, one owned by Sleat Community Trust and the other by a private individual. When the smaller privately-owned shop closed, the trust bought all the stock and endeavoured to maintain a retail space to service the 900+ community of Sleat. However, its store was old and wasn’t big enough to be the only shop in the village, so the trust applied for government funding and was awarded £900,000 to build a new shop.
Catherine de Vries was working in the old shop that the trust owned and was part of the team involved in creating the new Armadale Stores and is one of three managers.
“We had the chance to start from scratch, so when you have a new building you can have input into what you have in there,” she says. “We put in solar panels, an air source heat pump and all the lights are motion sensitive so automatically switch on and off.”
While all those additions come with cost savings, it’s impossible to say how much.
“There’s nothing to compare it to,” says de Vries. “The old shop was smaller, so the costs would have been different. We were looking at our sales figures recently and – not taking into account inflation – our takings have doubled since we opened the shop. I think it’s taken a while for us to get people to accept the sustainability aspect.
“We don’t push sustainability, we more celebrate it. I think if you try to push it down people’s throats, it wouldn’t work. We try to lead by example and show people that there are alternatives. It was a massive boost for us winning the Sustainability Award and it makes you stop and think about all the things we have done.”
It’s not just about the energy-saving installations. Armadale Stores has also introduced a ‘refill station’ where shoppers can bring in their own containers to buy ingredients like flour, oats, lentils, nuts and dried fruit. It also sells refills of cleaning products like washing up liquid.
“It’s very popular,” says de Vries. “There’s a lot of people who need a bit of persuading to make a bit more of an effort. The refill is a bit of a faff, but with a little bit of encouragement and help they start to realise that on most of the products it’s cheaper.
“People can get all their herbs and spices in the amount that they want instead of having to go to a supermarket and buying a large jar and not using it all. You get people coming to do their refills with a bag of little tubs, so they’re getting organised.
“Tourists tend to really like it as they can come and buy enough rice for two meals, instead of having to buy a kilo pack that they then have to either throw out or cart home.”
The locals took a bit of convincing when the new shop opened.
“To begin with some of the locals were a bit shy about coming in, maybe they felt pressured to buy something or they were concerned about the prices.
“We’ve worked really hard to get more locals to come in, which is working, but we’re finding that people are actually travelling to come to us, which is wonderful.”
The nearest supermarket is the Co-Op, 17 miles away in the village of Broadford, which has actually worked in the store’s favour.
“Our idea is that you can get everything you need at our shop,” she says. “Ironically, that was actually shown when the Co-op cyber attack happened. Because of the problems, that shop started to run out of things, like milk, fruit and veg so people remembered us and came down here. I think part of our resilience is that we have multiple suppliers, so we’re not reliant on any one delivery.”
Bringing in different suppliers allows the shop can be as competitive as possible.
“Even though we buy through Nisa, which stocks Co-op products, we often have to pay more, but not always,” de Vries says. “We try to stock alternative brands where we can so it’s an alternative to the Co-op. We try to remind people that when they come here, there’s no fuel costs and it’s more than just a visit to the supermarket. They will always bump into someone they know. Our coffee machine has attracted a lot of the tradesmen, so it’s become a bit of a community hub.”
The community is hugely important to the store and it is very involved with the local school and the locals.
“We’ve got great links with the local primary school and that’s been getting stronger,” she says. “We got involved with the Healthy Living initiative and the kids responded really positively. A couple of weeks ago, they were having a healthy eating week, so I got several boxes of different fruit. They were all pretty adventurous, only one didn’t try any!”.
The extra space in the shop has also allowed them to offer space to charities.
“We have some local people who run charity bake sales,” de Vries says. “So we let them use our foyer for free. As long as they make the cakes and bring the people to sell them, we’re happy to do it! They rearrange the tables, and all the customers at the shop have to go past the bake sale, so they do really well. A lot of money for local charities has been raised that way and it creates a nice vibe on that day as well. Plus often it attracts people who buy in the shop!”.
The sustainability effort runs deep, with the store stopping offering plastic bags a few years ago. “People just accepted it,” she says. “Occasionally people do get caught out, so we have a few plastic bags that we’ll give out. We never buy them in though, we always use bags or boxes that have come with our deliveries.”
With the store going from strength to strength, how will it grow in the future?
“We’re continually trying to come up with new ideas to attract people,” de Vries says. “We’ve got a good customer base, but I don’t know if that’s going to increase. There are some housing developments going on nearby, but I think we have to think more laterally. We’ve ordered some cotton bags for life and we’re getting in reusable coffee cups. We’re just going to grow slowly and steadily.”
