An Aberdeen community will once again have the chance to take advantage of full-time Post Office services for the first time in two years.
Award-winning post masters Salaha and Zulfiqar Ahmad cut the red ribbon at their brand new Post Office in Bucksburn last week – reviving a much missed service “right into the heart of the community”.
Bucksburn lost Sclattie Park Post Office in March 2019 after postmistress Helen Donald decided to retire, with the one on Old Meldrum Road shut since June 2016.
The latest blow to the community has been the closure of all bank branches in the neighbourhood, which left residents with no access to any postal and cash services.
Bringing ‘vital’ services back into the community
Now, Mr and Mrs Ahmad are determined to give Bucksburn Post Office services a new lease of life by providing high-level professionalism and the best customer care.
Mrs Ahmad said: “It’s an essential service and it’s one of those services you don’t actually realise how important it is until you lose it.
“It’s been needed for a long time and we are honoured to be the ones who can provide it in the first instance.
“We bring with us a lot of expertise, many years of experience and very high-level professional team in a localised environment.
“The post office is essentially the heart of the community and we are bringing that spirit back into Bucksburn.
“As soon as the word gets around, people will realise that we’re open and we’re here to make a huge impact.”
The new Bucksburn post office is situated in Crofters on Greenburn Drive, which once belonged to the well-known baking family Chalmers.
Dedicated to “always serve their community”, Pamela and Sheila Chalmers were quick to give the premises to Mr and Mrs Ahmad to offer a “one-stop shop” for all needs.
Mr and Mrs Ahmad have been running post offices in Aberdeen for more than 17 years – having moved to the Granite City in 2003.
The key is providing customer care
The couple formerly ran the award-winning Berryden Post Office and currently owns a branch in Woodside, which has won national awards for performance for three consecutive years.
Mrs Ahmad, 49, said going into running post office services was a calling for both her and her 53-year-old husband.
She said: “We’re both academics and we never really thought about become post masters until we moved to Aberdeen 18 years ago and got the opportunity to participate in this kind of service.
“But it was the customer care side of it that attracted us – the fact that you can have a rapport with your customers and build some really good relationships with them – and we’ve never looked back since.
“We were very keen to take up a Post Office in Bucksburn, because we were aware that it was a significant area with quite a large population without just the basic banking and postal services.
“And for us, that was terrible – in this day and age you need these utilities.
“Running a post office is all about customer care, reliability, trustworthiness and building relationships – and that’s exactly what we are aiming to bring to the community in Bucksburn.”