Luxury Scottish Roadside Mall Woos Consumers With Pies and Tweed

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(Bloomberg) — The geographical center of Scotland boasts heather-cloaked hills, rushing waterfalls, cold rivers — and one of the country’s more successful retailers.

House of Bruar, a family-owned business on the A9 artery midway between Edinburgh and Inverness, sells a high-end microcosm of all things Scottish, from hunting tweeds and cashmere sweaters to shortbread cookies and lobster-with-fries takeouts. And for the shopper in a hurry, there’s a helicopter pad.

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For its next phase, says Managing Director Patrick Birkbeck, Bruar has a digital push targeting the US spender, and plans a similar campaign in Europe, Canada and Australia. International tourists account for only about 5% of current sales — Birkbeck’s gambit is that they’re willing to spend more for the Bruar look. 

With the number of North American tourists to Scotland rising 16% last year to almost 1 million, Birkbeck wants the US and Canadian traveler to think about his venue when they’re on the tourist trail in the Highlands. Last week’s AIG Women’s Open golf championship for instance, taking place 90 minutes away in St Andrews, generated an uptick in visitors. 

“Ordering online or through the catalog you can’t experience what it’s like coming to the shop,” Birkbeck said. “The shop has to be the main drive for business and has to be our absolute backbone.” 

Since 1995, Bruar’s white-walled stores and restaurants — and an art gallery — have lured drivers wanting a break from the rain-spattered drudgery of sitting behind the wheel. Located in surroundings fit for an episode of Outlander also helps.

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It translates, just about, into a winning formula — turnover topped a record 39 million pounds ($51 million) for the year to January 2023. The shop gets about 2 million visitors a year. But costs are rising, the business is skewed to the summer, and profit fell 32% to 2.3 million pounds.

Even so, Bruar’s sales growth stands out as a bright spot in the otherwise troubled landscape of Scottish retail, still struggling to boost margins in the face of slack consumer spending and high business taxes. The number of people going into Scotland’s shops and outlets has declined in all but two months this year, according to the Scottish Retail Consortium. 

A key part of the Bruar’s success comes down to a simple ethos: all 350 staff are expected to go by the mantra of no job being below their pay grade.

Richard Christie, part of the senior management and a Bruar veteran of 25 years, tells how he was setting up operations back in 1995. Some customers, he says in between changing light bulbs and helping clients in the womenswear hall, have a similar sense of loyalty.

“We had a couple in earlier dressed head-to-toe in House of Bruar tweed who come a few times of year,” he said. “We also have regular customers who’ll call me an hour before they get here to ask me have the helipad ready.”

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Full Tweed Jacket

Getting kitted out in full Bruar attire, complete with fishing and shooting gear, doesn’t come cheap — a men’s Harris tweed paddock coat alone costs about £345. In targeting a specific clientele, beyond the weary driver fancying a cup of coffee, Bruar bounced back quickly from Covid and has weathered the cost-of-living crisis better than other retailers in Scotland. 

Still, running a business in the Highlands has significant risks. According to Birkbeck, the biggest headaches these days are recruiting and the specter of wage inflation. Rising house prices caused many young people who can’t get on the property ladder to leave, while Brexit created hurdles for the European staff he often hired. 

“There are very few businesses that offer the opportunities we do while living in the countryside,” he said. “For the right person it’s brilliant, but they’ve got to be able to live somewhere.” The business currently houses 25 employees onsite.

Humble Beginnings

Birkbeck is often offered the chance to relocate to work back in his native England — his parents started out by selling knitted scarves and jumpers out the back of their car in the Lake District. Tax rates are lower south of the border, and the land is less sparsely populated, putting less strain on supply chains and offering easier access to customers. 

But for now, he has no plans to move from a go-to retail site next to the flowing Falls of Bruar. 

A takeaway from running the family empire for almost three decades? “You’ve got to make everything work to the best of your ability within the rules. You’re not going to change the rules, so get on with it.” 

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