It takes a lot of mettle to tough it out in the wholesale trade, and the tenants of Glasgow market are more resilient than most. The Blochairn Road site, which opened its gates in 1969, is now the only real wholesale market in Scotland, trading 300,000 tonnes of fresh produce each year, with an annual turnover of £300 million.
But the way the market is run could be set to change next year, and council officials are expected to report on how they plan to take this forward in January. So what challenges and opportunities will this create for tenants?
It is almost exactly one year since Glasgow City Council held a meeting with stakeholders to discuss the best way forward for the running of the market and lay out the options. The council set up a group to look at alternative structures for operating the market, from a community and trust company or charitable trust, to a limited liability partnership, to it being leased out to tenants. “We had to ask, is there a better way of developing market services that might allow more investment?” says Graham Wallace, markets manager at Glasgow City Council. “It was decided to continue to run the market on the site, and the council has recognised the substantial socio-economic importance that it has to the city. That was the starting point. The council has been looking at different structures with a view to improving the site and maintaining it.”
A three-month consultation process with tenants concluded that the market was best run by an independent body, with the majority of traders keen to concentrate on their own businesses.
But the proposal does not mean that the council is divesting itself of any involvement in the Glasgow markets, stresses Jim Cunningham, operations manager at Glasgow City Council. “We see it as a vote of confidence in Glasgow markets - not just the wholesale site, but also the three retail markets and two farmers’ markets in the city,” he says. “The council is very much committed to maintaining its markets.
“Whichever vehicle is chosen, it will be wholly owned by the council,” he adds. “But there will be a board of directors, and the council will not be running the market directly.
“It is a model that has been adopted for other services in the city, and it has worked well.”
The prospective handover has thrown up mixed reactions from the tenants, who are keen for the modernisation of the market to get underway, but want to know more about the options and what it could mean for the site and for their businesses.
Peter Brogan, president of the tenants’ association for three years and managing director of James McKenzie & Son (Fruit Bazaar) Ltd, sees the creation of an independent organisation to manage the market as a pro-active move.
“Investment in the market in the last seven years or so has been lacklustre,” he says. “But now the council has decided in conjunction with the traders that the right way forward for the market is to maintain the site as the nodal centre of wholesale in Scotland.
“The core redevelopment of the market will take place in the next three to five years. The fabric of the market will be attended to, putting us back where we should be in terms of standards.
“Key synergies will be created between the tenants and the council-owned organisation that will run the market and, step-by-step, we will move forward and develop the site.”
The tenants are waiting in anticipation of an announcement on the future of the market, and the time lag has caused concern for traders. But the wait will soon be over, with council officials set to report on their decision next month.
Brogan is aware that he has a pivotal stance on the market, as president of the tenants’ association, and that communication between the council and traders is essential at this time. “We need to have a clear direction, but this can only be provided by information from the council, which has been scant,” he says. “But in the meantime, its business as usual.”
David Bilsland, from Fresh Produce, was voted vice-president of the tenants’ association this year, and he is adamant that communication is key to ensure the transition will benefit the traders. “We need to meet every month to discuss the issues that affect us, but we need to know who to go to with our views,” he says. “We know the way our businesses should work, but we need the council to listen to us - I just want everyone in this market to flourish in here, and that is not happening at the moment.”
The handover will get the ball rolling for the much-needed modernisation of the market. “We have been looking at a seven-year programme for the refurbishment of the site,” says Wallace. “That is not to say there will be equal spend over the seven years, but the most important things, including the roads, cladding and windows on the upper office level, the power supply and the car park, are likely to be dealt with first. We need to improve the basic envelope.”
Investment has not been a priority for a lot of businesses on the market, according to Ricky McDowell, who co-owns George Jackson Ltd with Andrew McBride, but this could change when the market operation changes hands and modernisation gets underway. “It is very difficult to grow in the wholesale trade, and a lot of firms have been put off investing in their businesses,” he says. “The market is in a bit of a state and it could do with being done up, but it will still be here in 20 years, because it is the only real wholesale market in Scotland.”
Traders want to see the refurbishment process get underway as soon as possible, and want to see the right improvements made. Wallace can draw from his experience as vice-chairman of the World Union of Wholesale Markets (WUWM), soon to step up to the role of chairman in April, to drive change in the right direction. “The WUWM Good Practice Guide will be used in the new model, and it will be part of the future of the market,” says Wallace. “The National Association of British Market Authorities is facilitating talks about common branding for UK wholesale markets, and this is another important step to take.”
The market revamp could see it move closer to its goal of becoming a one-stop shop for its customers. The site, which houses 73 tenants across a fresh produce market and a smaller fish market, already hosts 40 companies that trade fruit and vegetables, five that sell flowers, five that deal in meat, poultry and game, 11 that sell fish and seafood, five that have moved into processing, five that stock fine foods and dried goods, and one cash and carry.
The majority of the traders are upbeat about the prospect of the market gradually establishing itself as a composite site. “The more people that come here, the better,” says Tony Brogan, who heads up J&P Brogan. “There is already a fish market next door and a building next to the site is leased to a cash and carry, so centralising trade is the next step.”
“It suits the customer as they can get more or less everything they need, and it suits the tenants too,” adds Cunningham. “We will always have a core in fruit, vegetables and flowers, but we also have a meat and poultry offer on site, as well as a fish market next door.”
But the uncertainty has not held back the businesses on the site, some of which have flourished in recent years. Total Produce, operating as Fyffes Redbridge, is one of the largest firms on the market, with 14 units and 47 staff members, and counting. The firm acquired The Greenery last month, following the acquisition of independent firms James Lindsay & Son and D Coyle & Son.
Gerry Price, regional director for Scotland and North East England at Total Produce, is confident that this upward trend will continue. “The business has grown organically and through acquisitions, concentrating on the secondary wholesale and foodservice sectors,” he says. “We are also bringing quite a few imports in direct from the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain, and we have created a new role - taken on by Eva Videl - to work on imports and logistics.
“We are trying to be a one-stop shop, with all fruit lines, exotics, mushrooms and bananas, as well as vegetable and salad lines, and flowers and plants too. We try to carry a wide range, with more or less everything here.”
But the condition that the market is in will not facilitate growth for its tenants, Price warns. “The structure of the market is not right for the future,” he says. “It is the responsibility of each firm to maintain their stands - we have invested more than £500,000 in refrigeration, but the road surfaces need to be improved and the buildings in general are in poor condition. It will take millions of pounds worth of investment to make the market better, and the council should take some responsibility for this.
“No-one is going to spend serious money upgrading their stands on a short-term lease, and a lot of the traders are reluctant to put money into their businesses when they don’t know what is going on.
“There is a lot of talking with the council to do, but how easy that will be I don’t know. We really need more information.”
But Price is confident about the future of the market in Glasgow -however, he stresses that it will be essential for the council and tenants to establish a direction for the site as soon as possible. “There are a lot of questions to be asked about where the market is going,” he says. “We should establish where we are heading sooner rather than later, so that we can put together a plan of action, or it will be very hard to plan anything.
“But we still feel that there is a living to be made on the market,” he adds.
The key to keeping one step ahead is to diversify services to retain customers, says James Mackie, who runs James Mackie (Glasgow) Ltd, and the firm has invested in food preparation rooms to this end.
Mackie has ploughed more than £300,000 into introducing a new bespoke fruit and vegetable preparation plant, and a further £125,000 into equipment to make fresh juices such as orange, apple and pink grapefruit.
The firm also turns over £7,000 a week supplying dairy products, including milk, butter, cream and cheese to the foodservice sector.
“The way forward is offering more and more goods and services, because we have changed from being solely a fruit and vegetable business to offering logistics services,” says Mackie. “Why not start offering more dried goods, like salt and pepper, or vegetable oil? The days of wholesalers selling just potatoes and iceberg lettuces are finished.”
Mackie intends to keep extending his product range and will introduce dried pasta in March. However, he feels restricted by the current situation at Glasgow market, as further capital investment would not be advisable with the current short-term lease.
None of the traders on the market are banking on the changes set to be brought in next year to grow their businesses, and many have already made moves to pull in more customers and stay at the top of their game.
The changing shape of the customer base in Glasgow and across Scotland has provided new opportunities for the market, according to Tony Brogan, who has worked on the market for 36 years. “You learn something new every day in this trade, and I do see a place for the market in 20 years’ time,” he says. “The restaurant and catering trade in Glasgow has gotten busier and busier - the hotels are fully booked Monday to Friday - and our main customers are now secondary wholesalers that supply hotels and restaurants,” he adds. “This has helped to keep our market atmosphere.”
Ramzan Hussain, who runs TR Caledonian Fresh Produce with his brother Altaf, says the future for the wholesale sector is innovation. The duo have been based on the market for 10 years and, in the last three months, have introduced ethnic produce - including Indian and Chinese karela, Scotch Bonnet peppers, Iranian pomegranates, baby aubergines, and sultana grapes from Turkey - to their staple lines. “You need to bring in new ideas to make the business a success,” Hussain says. “We have made a change by introducing some Asian lines, and we have seen a difference. This side of the business will continue to grow.”
Brothers Neil and John Henderson, who run J Henderson & Son Ltd, have worked on the market for some 25 years. “The market has changed trade-wise in terms of volumes, with very few independent fresh produce retailers left in Glasgow and a shift towards supplying the foodservice sector,” says Neil. The firm has introduced a wider range of products, including sweet potatoes, butternut squash and strawberries, alongside traditional core lines such as potatoes and staple vegetables, in response to changing demand. “The aim is to keep going for the next 25 years, but we don’t have a grand plan,” Neil says.
This talk of innovation and investment shows just how far Glasgow market has come over the last five years or so, when prospects looked as if they were failing to shape up and the traders hit a tough patch. The turnaround can be put down to the regeneration of the city itself, and to the determination of the tenants to see things right.
The gradual transformation of Glasgow into a thriving and cosmopolitan city has seen the businesses in the market grow with it, with the booming hotel and restaurant trade finding its backbone in the Blochairn Road site.
Traders agree that both the city and the market have changed dramatically in the last 20 years, first knocked by the decline of the greengrocer and then boosted by a surge in tourism. “The city is more cosmopolitan, with better shopping and an up-and-coming exhibition centre, and the number of hotels is multiplying all the time,” says Price. “The city centre is vibrant, and no longer the grey and depressing place it once was. The ways of getting here have also improved, with cheap flights to Glasgow and Prestwick airports bringing in more tourist trade.”
The Commonwealth Games will hit the city in 2014, and this is expected to present the traders with more opportunities as the city continues to flourish in preparation for the event.
But in the meantime, the way the market will be operated in the future still hangs in the balance. FPJ will report on the decision.
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