Father’s Day gifts help equal Harry’s record - Kevin Buckle


We had a steady stream of customers as soon as we opened and it was clear that there were a good number of customers buying a present for Father’s Day. Some were wives buying something for their kids to give their dad while others were older children sometimes asking for help with their choice. T-shirts were the favourite choice followed by vinyl with mugs a respectable third.
The next thing I noticed was that we were selling an unusual number of Foo Fighters t-shirts. This I quickly realised was the result of the band playing Glasgow on the Monday but when I noticed we were also selling a good number of Green Day shirts too I had to check to see if they were also playing soon, and right enough they are playing Bellahouston Park on Tuesday and Wednesday next week. Clearly Green Day fans like to think ahead!
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Hide AdAll of these sales were on top of what would have been a busy day anyway with locals and visitors out in force, some saying they had actually avoided coming in the previous week given how busy they knew it would be.
The only other celebration outside of Christmas that has become noticeably good for business is Valentine’s Day. Edinburgh, I’ve come to realise, is a favourite destination for couples and they love nothing better than to buy each other gifts when they are in the shop. We do well all year with folk buying birthday presents of course though unsurprisingly we don’t benefit from the other all year gift purchases for births and weddings.
One of the nice things about selling a gift is how often people are so pleased to have found something they think is really going to please. Something that I think is lost on many businesses is that there is no need to sell things that are specifically Scotland related in that people are very happy to take back something they found in a Scottish shop without the item itself needing to be Scotland related.
There is no better example than the t-shirts, cards and prints we sell by the graphic designer and artist Butcher Billy who lives in south Brazil. I have had many customers comment that they have come into the shop because a friend or relative previously had been in the shop and bought something of his and it had been one of the highlights of their visit.
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Hide AdI think to some extent this is why the St James Quarter has not been quite the retail success that was expected as its focus on big name brands sounded like a good idea to many but actually meant there was nothing unique or unusual in its offering.
With lots of changes due in the Waverley Market over the next six months I’m keen to see how unique an offering the centre will be by the time we reach Christmas. Meanwhile I’ll need to check which big artist is due to visit next!