SCOTTISH small business owners are subverting the declining high street trends, encouraging shoppers to buy in person.
While the Covid-19 pandemic saw a dramatic rise in online sales and footfall on high streets remains at around 10% to 20% lower than pre-Covid levels, small businesses are setting up in-person stores both as temporary pop-ups and permanent features to buck the trend.
“In-person shopping is definitely making a return,” says Mark Hillan, one of the owners of Edinburgh-based vintage shop Morning Tea Vintage.
“We’ve been through a phase where the high street was dominated by the big brands like Topshop, but now we’re seeing smaller brands take over the high street, setting up in-person stores and actually doing better than some of the big names.”
Morning Tea Vintage was set up in February 2023 and describes itself as carefully handpicking designer vintage clothing for the people of Scotland and beyond, selling high-quality, unique pieces and giving new life to preloved garments.
Selling from their one shop in Newington, Edinburgh, the brand conducts the majority of its sales in person. With online fast-fashion retailers like Shein dominating the market, competition is tough for smaller outlets.
“To make any independent business work, you have to go all out on your marketing – if more people know, more people come by,” explains Mark. “You cannot rely on footfall alone.”
Creating a brand
Morning Tea Vintage does the majority of its marketing on Instagram. One strategy has been to make in-person shopping an event, partnering with venues like nightclubs to host pop-up shop evenings. In the past, the brand has also partnered with Edinburgh bar and club Sneaky Pete’s.
“If you’re in a venue people are already familiar with, your brand can be planted in their face,” says Mark.
“With a majority student and young target audience, a nightclub tends to have a similar customer demographic. The event benefitted the venue too – Sneaky Pete’s launched a new cocktail menu at the same time.”
Morning Tea Vintage rents out its in-store rail space to other small businesses – part of an increasing trend where small businesses join forces in a joint advertising venture.
Bottom Drawer Finds is one of the businesses that rented this space as a pop-up shop. This branded and vintage clothing business from Perth started as an Instagram account and now sells in pop-up shops across the country, as well as online.
“I’ve really enjoyed meeting people that do the same things as me,” explains Elliot Miln, the owner of Bottom Drawer Finds.
“Being a small business owner can be lonely by yourself so connecting with a community of other sellers and sharing the space in the market is really nice.”
Elliot also stresses the importance of using social media to advertise: “Having an Instagram presence helps you to understand and access your audience, but it also helps the audience better understand your business.
“If people can see the process by which the items you’re selling come to be, I’ve found they’re more willing to pay more as they understand why the price point is what it is.”
The desire for Scots to support local businesses was revealed in a recent poll in which 85% of the 1400 adults asked by Scotland Loves Local agreed that it was vital people in their community support business on the high street.
Mark from Morning Tea Vintage adds: “As people become more climate-conscious and interested in buying better quality and more sustainable items that aren’t produced in a sweatshop, it’s bringing back shopping in-person.”
Summerhall in Edinburgh (above) is a multi-arts venue space – one of the largest in Europe. The venue provides space for more than 100 local businesses to operate, frequently hosting market events, as well as showcasing live music and theatre. “
Central to our ethos is supporting local community businesses, we’re fortunate that we have so much space and want to share this with smaller businesses,” says Steph Leach, an events manager at Summerhall.
“We work with sellers showcasing high-quality artisan goods – you won’t see us collaborating with big companies and brands.”
Summerhall runs a yearly Christmas market that saw more than 3000 visitors in 2023. Summing up the star attraction for in-person shopping, Steph concludes: “Since the pandemic, people are enjoying the opportunity to have the human contact element put back in shopping.
“There is definitely an appetite from consumers to speak with businesses that work hard to create their products and build relationships with sellers.”
