Lost Edinburgh shops: 14 photo memories of legendary grocer chain Rankins of Edinburgh
Renowned for its quality, the Rankin brand sold a mixture of home-grown produce and exotic items, imported from all over the globe.With branches in Princes Street, the West End, Tollcross, Corstorphine, Leith, and as far afield as Musselburgh, their shops were all over the place in the 1950s and ‘60s, before a rise in car ownership and supermarkets saw profits take a hit towards the end of the century.
The business was sold in 1985, but memories of the much-loved greengrocer chain remain strong decades later.
13. Nicolson Street, 1968
People shopping in Nicolson Street, Newington in Edinburgh October 1968 - some of the shops shown: Rankins Fruit Markets Ltd, Lewis's, MacVitties bakers. Photo: Alan Ledgerwood
14. Rankins delivery of candles
At Edinburgh Fruit Market, one of the Rankins fruit and vegetable family takes delivery of a batch of candles from Holland for use in the power cuts caused by the miners' strike of February 1972. Photo: Dick Ewart