Premium home fragrance shop crowned Scotland’s best gift store for third year

A Kilmarnock shop has been crowned Scotland’s Gift Store Of The Year for the third year running.

A Scents of Scotland owner Stuart Nairn says the hattrick of wins has left him feeling “ecstatic” after his small family-run business won the title once again.

The award ceremony took place in Peebles where Stuart and his family went along to Barony Castle Hotel to receive the award.

Stuart, 43, said: “This is the third year in a row and we are ecstatic! We were told last year that it was very unusual to win twice in a row, so the fact we’ve won three times is amazing!

“When we started in April 2014, we knew what direction we were headed. We wanted to offer a unique range of great quality and super value gifts and home fragrance products that were inspired by and made in Scotland.

“We started out by visiting contact centres and factories selling our growing range of goodies to the staff and visitors with the aim of launching a website and planned to open a gift shop in the future.

“Our wee business quickly went from strength to strength and our website went live in June 2015, quickly attracting lots of new visitors daily so it was time to start thinking about that shop.”

Stuart opened the shop in the heart of Bellfield almost nine years ago on October 3, 2015, and was told it would “never last”.

Many people have asked Stuart why he chose the location, which is a small housing estate in Kilmarnock with just over 2,000 homes, instead of the town centre, to which his reply has always been the same.

He said: “I remember when I was a child fondly and the trips ‘up the street’ with my gran. She could get anything she wanted and needed, from groceries to gifts and didn’t need to get the bus to town.

“This is something that unfortunately has been lost in many places, but we always wanted to try and bring a bit of it back.”

Stuart is now running his business with his sister Donna Nairn who is a retail manager and his daughter Emma Ridgway who is a business admin assistant.

A Scents of Scotland range includes a vast array of gift items such as home fragrance, bath and body products, handbags, scarves, jewellery and much more.

Stuart said: “We have lots of amazing things in the pipeline for the coming year. We have begun to stock The Highland Soap Company products and intend to expand on that range, as well as launch our own wax melt range and keep doing more of the great stuff we have been doing, and funds permitting – we hope to do a bit of a refurb of our stock room/office in the shop.”

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