Scottish minister takes stock of Go Local initiative at Broxburn store

Scottish Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon has urged customers to continue supporting their local shops as she paid a visit it Scotmid’s Broxburn store to mark the progress of the second phase of the SGF Go Local programme.

The programme, funded by the Scottish government, aims to support convenience stores to provide dedicated, long-term display space for locally-sourced Scottish products.

“I was delighted to visit the Broxburn store and see first-hand how the Go Local project has given consumers a greater choice of locally-produced, healthy food and drink,” Mairi Gougeon commented.

“The initiative has also shown that our diverse and successful convenience store sector is ideally placed to give customers the greater choice of healthy produce they are looking for, while at the same time helping to achieve our net zero targets by reducing food miles.”

Earlier in June, the Scottish government has decided to continue its funding programme after a pilot phase which it said has exceeded expectations.

The original 10-store pilot was launched on 1 December 2020 and ran until June this year. This was following a robust selection process, where SGF chose 10 geographically and demographically diverse stores across a range of fascia groups to prove proof of concept. Each store received match-funding.

The trial resulted in a 34 per cent increase in the number of local products stocked thanks to more space dedicated to them, and a 40 per cent rise in sales of local produce at shops that took part.

Across all stores, the performance of Scottish products outperformed the rest of the store. The pilot also resulted in an average annual local multiplier effect of £694,000 and an average local multiplier increase of £221,000 per store further emphasising the benefits of programme.

Scotmid’s Broxburn store

The phase 2 of the programme has been oversubscribed with a further 21 retailers. This will also involve continuing to develop the original 10 pilot stores.

“The SGF Go Local programme has been an outstanding success to date and we are delighted that in recognition of this that the Cabinet Secretary has come to visit Scotmid’s Broxburn store to the see an excellent example of type of benefits the programme can bring to the local community through collaborative working,” Pete Cheema, SGF chief executive, said.

“More broadly, the programme itself supports Scottish convenience retailers and provides local Scottish producers with a vital route to market while ensuring that customers have access to a wider range of fresh, healthy Scottish products.”

SGF has also announced a virtual "Meet the Buyer" event on 25th January 2022, organised by its programme partners, Scotland Food & Drink, to provide retailers with the opportunity to meet new suppliers and enhance their Scottish range.

Scotland Food & Drink chief executive James Withers said: "Supporting the Scottish Grocers Federation with the Go Local project has been an excellent example of what can be achieved when the industry comes together to collaborate.

“With over 5000 convenience stores across Scotland, we understand that this is just the beginning and, there is a massive opportunity for us to demonstrate the value of stocking local Scottish products to the wider convenience sector.”