Walking through Inverurie town centre with Derek Ritchie is an eye-opening experience.
The head of the Business Improvement District (Bid) group is stopped by folk keen for a quick word every 20 yards.
As you might expect, the health of the town centre is the topic of the day.
But unlike most towns across the country, it’s Inverurie’s abundance of shops that dominates these conversations.
In fact, only one unit is sitting empty. And Derek hopes that won’t be the case for long.
Not only is the Aberdeenshire town bucking the trend, it actually has one of the most occupied town centres in Scotland.
With the streets jam packed with cars, one man even leans out of his window to joke: “This is your fault, we’re too busy!”
So how did this happen?
I visited to speak to the main man behind the town centre’s rejuvenation, and found out:
- How Derek went from running a grocery store to overseeing a whole town centre
- The secret to Inverurie’s success
- How other north-east town centres could transform their fortunes
- And the TV appearance in the works for local traders
Who is Derek Ritchie?
Market Place and West High Street are full to the gunwales with shoppers of all ages as I arrive in Inverurie, and cavalcades of cars weave their way into the town centre.
It’s a Monday afternoon. This is not what I was expecting.
Derek greets me outside his office on High Street, and we stroll into the heart of the town.
He has been Bid manager for six years, but his current role is a long way away from his previous job.
The 59-year-old has more than 35 years experience in the retail game, managing stores across the north-east, such as the former Costcutter branches in Ellon and Mintlaw.
So how did Derek go from grocery store manager to town centre champion?
“Well it was definitely a big change from being a retail manager,” the father-of-one chuckles.
“When I had sold both shops, I actually had a job ready to go to.
“But the company that I was going to move to was taken over, so that fell through.
“I thought ‘what am I going to do now?’”
Inverurie role was perfect timing
With Derek now left in the lurch, he wasn’t entirely sure where he would turn next.
And then a post popped up on his Facebook feed.
Derek added: “It just so happened that I saw the Bid manager role come up on social media.
“I thought that I really like Inverurie, and it was the sort of job I would love to sink my teeth into.
“When I read the job description, it said that it would be event-focused, involvement with social media and promoting the businesses, and I thought that was definitely my kind of thing.”
Having already had experience as the chairman of the Ellon Business Association, and being part of the Ellon Rotary Club, Derek took the leap of faith.
What exactly is a Bid?
A business improvement district basically just involves a collective of businesses banding together to promote themselves.
Traders pay a levy which funds positions like Derek’s in Inverurie, with the goal of promoting the town and increasing footfall.
Each Bid term lasts five years, at which point businesses vote on whether to keep paying the levy – or axe the scheme as a whole.
‘My job is to get the town buzzing’
In his six years on the job, Derek has managed to maintain Inverurie as the retail jewel in Aberdeenshire’s crown.
And the proof is in the pudding, as we stroll through the busy high street.
Walking past a host of quaint local shops, I’m astounded to find out that some of them have been in the town centre for more than a century, such as shoe shop WM Bruce.
It’s theses Inverurie institutions which keep people coming back to the Garioch town.
It’s all about making sure that shopping local is “a habit”, according to Derek.
He tells me: “One of the biggest aims of my job is to get footfall into the town centre.
“That’s what we’re all about, to get the businesses and the town buzzing.
“We’re always constantly promoting the town and the businesses.
“But it’s all about getting people into the habit.”
“Inverurie is a great place to come, especially if you’re retail minded at all.
Has the death of the high street been greatly exaggerated?
The struggles of our city and town centres have dominated headlines for years now, with locals dismayed as high streets that were once a source of pride become barren wasteland.
Many have been hit hard by the pandemic, the cost of living crisis and the rise of online shopping.
So how can it be possible that Inverurie town centre has just ONE empty unit?
Especially when just half an hour down the road, Aberdeen’s city centre is awash with to let signs and barren shop fronts.
What seems to be Aberdeen’s loss is Inverurie’s gain, as one Aberdeenshire councillor revealed in The Press and Journal back in July.
The anonymous official said the Granite City’s woes are “massively helping our Aberdeenshire hospitality and retail outlets, which are seeing a marked lift in business”.
But is this really true?
Derek ponders this, and replies: “We have a lot going on for us in Inverurie.
“As we’ve got the railway station here, we have quite a defined town centre.
“You can see the two main streets from the town centre, where some other towns are a bit more fragmented.”
Derek adds: “And we have got a good mix of national and independent retailers.
“55% of our units are independently owned.”
All this came into play when Inverurie was recently nominated for Scotland’s town of the year.
‘I now have to tell people sorry there’s no units left’
Derek did some of his own research, which seemed to suggest that Inverurie was Scotland’s most occupied town centre.
He tells me this was later backed up with an email from the council’s economic development department.
In one way, Inverurie seems to be suffering from its own success, due to the fact that there is little room for new businesses to start out.
But that’s not exactly the worst problem a town centre could be facing in the current climate.
Derek tells me: “There’s not a high turnover of retail units here.
“When I had my shop in Ellon, there was a constant turnover of units.
“Someone would take on a small shop, but they would only last a year or two.
“But that doesn’t seem to happen here the same in Inverurie.
If they get established in Inverurie there is enough footfall to keep them going and establish their business.
“I get people emailing and calling me all the time saying they’re looking for a site.
“In the last two or three years, I’ve usually given them a list of a few different sites.
“Now I have to tell them ‘there’s none available, you’re just going to have to wait until something comes up’.
“It’s a great position to be in I suppose.
“But the demand is there for more units. I know for sure it is.”
How much of Inverurie’s success is down to BID?
When asked if the town’s strong position is down to the work of the Bid, Derek is hesitant to take all the glory.
He chuckles: “That’s the key one, that’s a tricky one.”
“I think Inverurie has always been a successful town. It’s just about keeping that going.
“Especially over the last few years where we’ve come into this with the oil and gas downturn, then the cost of living crisis.
“Covid was another thing, but we actually came out of the pandemic with more shop units filled than we had pre-Covid – which was great.
“Things have been difficult for towns right across the country, and I think because we’ve had Bid supporting the town centre here, we’ve been able to get through that in quite good nick.”
Could this be the antidote for the death of the high street?
Earlier this month, I bumped into Derek as he spoke at the Banff and Macduff Town Forum about how his group has benefitted Inverurie.
Attendees were flabbergasted at the thought of having just one empty unit, and the streets being packed with shoppers.
Many left the hall wondering “could this work here?”
Aberdeenshire has seen two of these organisations so far, with only a 50% success rate.
A venture in Peterhead failed within a year – which still remains a contentious issue with traders today.
At the time, Blue Toon businessman Paul Haggath said he “didn’t see the benefit” in continuing to pay the levy.
“Bid doesn’t fit every single town,” Derek agrees.
“But it does work for a lot of towns, and there are 37 across Scotland now. We got voted back in comfortably so it’s good to know you’re wanted by the businesses.”
What’s next for Inverurie and Derek Ritchie?
The future looks bright for the Garioch town, with two major events taking place soon.
Derek revealed that a Christmas advert with STV is in the works, collaborating with local independent businesses to showcase the town centre.
And Inverurie traders are also waiting anxiously to hear if they will be crowned Scotland’s town of the year, with the winner expected to be announced shortly.
So as I leave Inverurie that Monday afternoon, shoppers are still bustling about.
I weave past shoppers nipping into the likes of the WM Bruce shoe shop, still going strong after 100 years, and parents taking excited kids to the new Play Town soft play cafe.
Suddenly, I’m a lot less surprised about how busy it is.
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