GENERAL STORES I A C MacLean. Castlebay, Isle of Barra, Outer Hebrides, Scotland

A fine old island general store

A C MacLean

When I first met Christine Galbraith she helped carry my shopping out to my van unprompted, that sort of thing just doesn’t happen at Tesco’s. Although originally training as a nurse, she’s happily ended up working at A C MacLean General Stores for 37 years. What stores they are too! They’ve outdone Christine by being open on Barra for over 100 years, owned by one family. The stores are wonderfully positioned in Castlebay, the only town on this beautiful Outer Hebridean island, a six hour ferry ride from the UK mainland at Oban. Since The Coracle’s last visit 15 years ago, a new all singing all dancing Co-op has been built on the edge of town. Therefore I was expecting this wee story to be about the sad life and times of a disappearing, more traditional, locally owned shop. Christine simply explained that everyone rubs along very well and she felt A C MacLean’s could make it through another 100 years. In fact, the Co-op has itself been on Barra so long that Christine remembers being bought her first dress from there as a little girl.

Christine

The first thing you might notice about the shop is that you can’t see it since, like many island shops the world over, there is no indication at all that it’s a shop. No sign is needed since everyone knows what it is and what it sells. This is in stark contrast to the sign wars seen in other parts of the UK where signage seems to get bigger every year. The MacLean’s also have another signless shop further up the hill and known as ’Top Shop’. Disappointingly for some younger visitors, it has a wonderful selection of general homewares rather than day-glo leggings, it’s so named simply because it’s the shop at the top of the street! For as long as anyone can remember locals have known the General Stores as ‘the butchers’ since it used to butcher the island’s meat. It still has a meat fridge with wonderful Scottish lamb but not lamb from the Barra sheep you see climbing the rocky hills around the island. Tighter controls on abattoirs have meant either closure or being restricted to slaughtering animals supplied by their owners for personal consumption. On Barra therefore much meat is shared around by word of mouth, gifts, or exchange. This is is a similar situation to that found in the Faroe Islands where the supermarkets stock very little local meat and fish.

A C MacLean

Anyways, butchery or no butchery Christine feels that the stores provide a different offering to the island’s Co-op. Historically, island shops tended not to stock items that another shop was already selling. Most shops deal in more than one thing and A C MacLean is no different being also the petrol station, newsagent, grocers and butchers. Maybe what distinguishes them from the Co-op is personal service rather than self-service, hand delivery to your van with some good chat goes way beyond what big stores can provide. Hopefully, that will stand A C MacLeans in good stead for the next 100 years.