Finding comfort in the finer things in life

LOBAL markets in meltdown, household budgets buckling, the economy teetering on the edge of recession – but, hey, this is no time to be skimping on the feta-stuffed peppers, Madagascar vanilla and lavender crème brûlé. Upmarket food retailer Waitrose is waving aside all those gloomy surveys of conditions for Scots retailers and opening its fifth Scottish superstore – this time in Stirling.

In a world that seems to be falling further apart by the week, there is something comforting about this Waitrose expansion – the changing face of Scottish retailing can be about more than the advance of one-pound thrift stores and charity shops. Out there lurk Scots households prepared to spend enough on occasional treats – perhaps as an economising substitute for dining out – to encourage Waitrose to push ever further into territory that a few years ago was deemed to be terrain impossible for a food retailer straight out of the English home counties. Did they think we eat only rolls and square sausage?

It also tells us much about the demographics of the Stirling area. Waitrose clearly feels it is prosperous and discerning enough to support a 37,000sq ft store. And this despite the desperate times for the high street. What next for Stirling? Armani and Harvey Nicks?