With Whole Foods Market set to open its new Glasgow store tomorrow (16 November), the Scottish media is predicting an “organic fightback” north of the border.
But leading daily Herald Scotland says the US natural food giant’s expansion into the middle-class Griffnock area of the city will still be “a bet on how the ethical shopper adjusts to straitened times”.
The paper points out that Scotland’s organic market has faced challenges both on the supply side — there has been a big fall in the amount of land farmed organically — and at the checkout.
However, the launch of Scotland’s Organic Action Plan earlier this year provides stronger incentives for farmers to switch to organic and sets national targets for the first time.
Richard Huxtable, senior organic consultant at the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC), tells Herald Scotland that the stimulus package will help an “organic fightback” and reports growing consumer demand again in several parts of the country.
And the opening of Whole Foods’ new Glasgow store will also provide lots of new shelf space for local Scottish producers — and the retailer is already hinting at further openings in Scotland.
The Daily Record recently interviewed 10 of the organic producers businesses who will helping to stock shelves at the new 24,000 sq ft store.
