In the Scottish Borders, shopping has always been more than just a transaction – it’s a window into community life and the changing times. From the bustling medieval market towns where farmers and craftsmen gathered in open squares, to the Victorian-era high streets lined with proud family-run shops, to the era of supermarkets and shopping centres, and now the rise of e-commerce, the story of retail in the Borders is rich and ever-evolving. In this journey through time, we’ll explore how retail evolved in the Scottish Borders from the medieval period to the present day, visiting local town centres like Galashiels, Hawick, Kelso, Peebles, Selkirk, and Jedburgh along the way. It’s a chronologically told tale of markets and mercantile ambition, of beloved local shops and corporate chains, of decline and revival – and above all, of how Borderers have bought and sold the necessities and niceties of life for centuries. Let’s step back in time and watch the shops and streets of the Borders transform.
Medieval Markets and Mercat Crosses (12th–15th Centuries)
In medieval times, the Scottish Borders’ economy revolved around periodic markets and seasonal fairs rather than permanent shops. Many towns in the Borders began as market settlements, granted charters by kings or abbots to hold weekly markets and annual fairs. A “mercat cross” – often just a simple stone cross or pillar – marked the spot in town where traders would gather on market days. For example, early records show that Galashiels, though just a small hamlet in the Middle Ages, had a mercat cross by its kirk, indicating royal permission to host a market. Likewise, Selkirk, one of the oldest royal burghs in Scotland, was centred around a marketplace on a hill; remarkably, the medieval street layout of Selkirk’s Market Place survives to this day, even if most original buildings do not. These market squares – whether in Selkirk, Jedburgh, Peebles or elsewhere – were the heart of commerce long before any high street shops existed.
What were these early markets like? Picture a cold dawn in the 13th century: farmers from nearby villages lead sheep or cattle into town to sell, local monks from the abbeys (like Kelso Abbey or Melrose Abbey) bring surplus wool or ale to trade, and pedlars arrive with carts of goods not otherwise available in isolated rural communities. Wool, skins, grain, livestock, salt, and cloth were staple goods of the medieval Borders economy. Wool in particular was a major export of Scotland in the High Middle Ages, and the border abbeys raised sheep extensively; merchants would buy up bales of wool at local fairs to ship to the great wool markets of Flanders. Coinage was still limited early on – bartering for goods or services was common – but by the 12th–13th centuries Scottish coins were being minted and used in trade.
The right to hold a market was a prized privilege. Royal burghs like Roxburgh (a now-vanished town near Kelso) and Selkirk received charters granting them monopolies on trade in their area. In fact, Roxburgh in its heyday (1100s–1400s) was one of the most important towns in Scotland – a bustling market town strategically located by the River Tweed. Contemporary accounts rank Roxburgh alongside Edinburgh in significance. It had a castle, a thriving merchant community, and held grand fairs. However, being on the frontline of the Wars of Independence and Anglo-Scottish conflicts proved fatal to Roxburgh – the town was repeatedly attacked and ultimately destroyed in 1460, never to recover. After Roxburgh’s destruction, nearby Kelso – just across the river – gradually filled the void. By the mid-18th century, Kelso had taken over Roxburgh’s role as the centre of trade for the rich farmlands of central Tweeddale.
Other Border towns also grew around their markets. Kelso itself was first noted in 1128 as a settlement near the Royal Burgh of Roxburgh and the great abbey. Jedburgh, with its Abbey founded in the 12th century, likewise became a hub for local trade and hosted fairs (one famous fair was the Hand Ba’ game held at Candlemas, reflecting how trading occasions doubled as community festivals). Peebles was made a royal burgh in the 14th century and held markets serving Tweeddale’s farming community. Hawick, though not a royal burgh, developed as a baronial burgh; after a legendary victory of local youth over English raiders in 1514 (the Battle of Hornshole), the town was “re-declared a free burgh” and gained confidence to expand trade.
Medieval market days were lively, essential gatherings. People walked or rode from miles around to attend. For rural folk, it was likely the only time to buy items they couldn’t make themselves: iron tools (from travelling blacksmith-forgers), salt for preserving food, or rare luxuries like spices and wine imported by merchant caravans. The social aspect was important too – markets were where news was exchanged, hiring fairs held (for labourers seeking work), and even court sessions conducted (as in a 1342 incident when Sheriff Alexander Ramsay held court in Hawick’s church during market and was dramatically abducted by a rival – a reminder that power struggles often played out in these public arenas).
Permanent shops as we know them were virtually non-existent in the early medieval period. Commerce was an open-air affair, weather permitting, or perhaps conducted in simple wooden booths on market days. Town dwellers might sell produce from their doorstep or craftsmen might have a workshop at home, but a dedicated retail storefront was rare. Instead, people relied on periodic markets and itinerant pedlars. An average Border peasant in, say, 1400 would produce most necessities (food, homespun cloth) at home, buying only occasional specialty goods. Wealthier folk – the lairds and clergy – could procure finer imported goods through merchant contacts at fairs.
Despite the humble setup, medieval markets laid the foundation for the region’s towns. They established trade routes (for instance, Selkirk wool and leather were traded via Berwick to the Continent), nurtured specialisation (Selkirk gained renown for shoemaking by the 1400s; other towns for weaving or brewing), and created communal identities centred on market customs. Some of today’s beloved local events have roots in medieval market traditions – Common Ridings in towns like Hawick and Selkirk, now colourful annual festivals, evolved from ceremonies to mark and protect burgh boundaries and would coincide with fairs. Through war and peace, the market cross stood as a symbol of a town’s right to trade and govern itself; many Border towns still proudly display their mercat crosses as links to this medieval heritage.
From Fairs to Shopfronts (16th–18th Centuries)
As the medieval era gave way to the early modern period, the Scottish Borders slowly transitioned from open-air market commerce to a more settled pattern of shops and tradespeople’s premises. Several factors drove this shift. The relative peace after the Union of the Crowns (1603) reduced cross-border warfare, allowing towns to rebuild and commerce to stabilise. Population growth and the agrarian improvements of the 1700s increased prosperity for some, creating demand for more consumer goods. And improving roads and carriers meant goods could circulate more regularly. By the late 18th century, fixed shops emerged in Scottish towns as rivals to the old street markets and annual fairs. The Borders were no exception to this trend.
In practical terms, early shopkeeping in the 1600s and 1700s often meant a tradesman’s home doubling as his shop. A cobbler or tailor, for example, might install a bench and a wooden shelf in the front room of his house to display goods for sale (shoes, or bolts of cloth), hanging a simple painted sign outside. These first shops were usually simple adaptations of homes or small timber booths, reflecting the limited means and materials available. In many villages, it was common for someone’s parlour to serve as the local store. People talked of going to buy goods “at Jean’s window” or “at Jock’s door,” indicating an informal retail setup at a neighbour’s house. Such village home shops sold everyday necessities: home-baked bread, eggs, candles, maybe a bit of tea or tobacco if the proprietor could source them. They were the convenience stores of their day – extremely local and run as a sideline to farming or another trade.
A vivid example of a specialty village trade survives in local memory: the tiny village of Allanton in Berwickshire was once known as a “village of tailors’ shops.” In the early 20th century Allanton, with only a single street of cottages, somehow supported three separate tailor shops, serving the surrounding rural area’s needs for custom suits and tweeds. The last of these little home-based tailor businesses closed in the 1960s, and the former shop spaces have since been converted back to living quarters. Allanton’s case shows how even remote communities developed surprisingly robust retail niches when demand existed – in this instance, likely patronage from local estate gentry and farmers for quality tailored clothing. It also shows the eventual fate of many such enterprises once modernity made small village shops less viable.
In the larger towns of the Borders, the 17th and 18th centuries saw an increasing variety of professional shopkeepers and craftsmen setting up premises. Town records and guild documents from places like Jedburgh and Peebles mention merchants, fleshewers (butchers), baxters (bakers), cordiners (shoemakers), glovers, haberdashers, and the like. These individuals often still operated on a market day model – i.e. they did most trade on the weekly market day when country folk came to town – but unlike earlier itinerant pedlars, they had fixed shops where townspeople could buy things throughout the week.
High Street Boom: Victorian and Edwardian Retail (19th–Early 20th Century)
The 19th century ushered in the golden age of the high street in the Scottish Borders. Powered by the Industrial Revolution and population growth, towns like Galashiels, Hawick, and Selkirk expanded dramatically – and with that expansion came a proliferation of shops of every description. This was the era when the High Street (and often also a Commercial Street or Market Street) became synonymous with shopping. A contemporary observer around 1900 would find the town centres of the Borders bustling and densely packed with independent retailers, family businesses, and the early incarnations of department stores and chain shops.
Several forces drove this retail boom. Industry brought wealth and workers to the towns. In Galashiels, for instance, the tweed mills multiplied and by 1890 the town’s population had exploded to nearly 20,000 (from only 800 in 1800). These new town-dwellers needed food, clothing, tools, and leisure goods, creating a huge market for local shopkeepers. Hawick likewise grew on the back of knitwear and tweed manufacturing, becoming – as local pride had it – the “largest town in Roxburghshire” and a key regional shopping centre. Even towns that did not industrialise heavily, like Kelso and Peebles, benefited from the general rise in agricultural prosperity and improved transport links. A Victorian middle class was emerging in the Borders, and they had disposable income to spend in shops on quality furniture, fashions, and fancy goods to adorn their houses.
The character of shopping itself changed. Instead of merely fulfilling basic needs, shopping became a social pastime and a mark of civic pride. Towns vied to build beautiful shopping streets and covered markets. Shopkeepers invested in attractive storefronts with large glass display windows (thanks to the invention of larger plate glass and the repeal of Britain’s glass tax in 1845). In urban centres, Victorian shops sported decorative ironwork, grand signs, and gas lighting to draw the eye. While the Borders’ towns were smaller than Edinburgh or Glasgow, they followed the trends.
One of the most significant developments of this period was the birth of department stores and retail co-operatives. In the Borders, the standout example is the Galashiels Co-operative Society. Founded 1839, it grew from a small shop on Overhaugh Street into a grand Co-operative Department Store on the corner of High Street and Roxburgh Street – a three-storey stone landmark crowned with towers. It sold groceries, clothing, furniture, hardware – a wide range of goods – and was owned collectively by its members. The architecture exuded Victorian confidence and remains a prominent feature today.
Alongside co-ops, private entrepreneurs opened notable stores. By the late 1800s, national chain shops such as Lipton’s Grocery and Boots the Chemist reached the Borders. These early brands offered consistency and lower prices, though high streets still brimmed with independent family businesses.
A stroll through Kelso’s Square circa 1900 revealed long-established butchers, bakers, ironmongers, and milliners whose family names had served the town for generations. Loyalty was personal; customers knew the owners, and credit was often given informally. A morning of errands involved multiple stops – baker, fishmonger, grocer – and plenty of conversation. The high street doubled as a social hub, reinforcing the community bonds that many still mourn today.
Museums preserve fragments of that world. Selkirk’s Halliwell’s House Museum includes a reconstruction of an old ironmonger’s shop, shelves crammed with nails, oil lamps, mousetraps, and enamelware – a glimpse of how dense and varied even the smallest shop could be.
Market days and annual fairs persisted but were now largely for livestock and wholesale produce; consumer shopping had moved indoors. Towns paved and lit their streets, raised statues, and competed in civic beauty. The range of goods broadened enormously: tweeds and woollens from local mills, imported teas and spices, books, and fine furnishings. Railways brought London fashions to Border shop-windows within days, while exports of Hawick knitwear and Galashiels tweeds carried the region’s name around the world.
The co-operative movement flourished too. By the early 20th century, every major town had its “Store”, offering groceries, bakery goods, and even funerals. Mail-order catalogues appeared, and window-shopping became leisure. High streets thrived as symbols of prosperity and belonging.
Supermarkets and the End of an Era (Mid-20th Century)
The post-war decades transformed retail again. From the 1950s onwards, supermarkets and self-service shopping changed everything. Convenience replaced personal service; customers now pushed trolleys through aisles rather than waiting at a counter.
In the Scottish Borders, the first small supermarkets appeared in the 1960s. They were revolutionary: brighter lighting, longer hours, and greater variety drew crowds. By the 1980s, larger chains such as Tesco, Safeway, and Asda had arrived, clustering first in Galashiels and later in other towns. The introduction of loyalty stamps, refrigerated displays, and car parks marked a decisive cultural shift – shopping became a weekly event rather than a daily round of errands.
Galashiels, already the region’s commercial capital, became the hub of supermarket retail. Its population density and central location attracted investment, leading to retail parks on the town’s fringes. Meanwhile, small grocers, butchers, and dairies found it difficult to compete with low prices and extended ranges. Many closed through the 1970s and 1980s, victims of changing consumer habits.
Across the Borders, residents adjusted to the one-stop shop: everything from groceries to clothing to electrical goods under one roof. For the first time, private cars made inter-town shopping feasible; families drove from Selkirk or Peebles to Galashiels on Saturdays, filling boots with supplies before heading home. The old rhythm of daily high-street life faded.
While supermarkets improved choice and reduced prices, they also eroded local identity. The personal bonds between shopkeeper and shopper weakened, replaced by anonymous efficiency. Yet nostalgia for the lost intimacy of the high street remained powerful – a feeling still voiced whenever a traditional shop shuts its doors.
Discount Stores, Retail Parks and Global Brands (Late 20th – 21st Century)
The late 1990s and early 2000s brought another upheaval: retail parks and discount chains. Out-of-town shopping centres on the edges of Galashiels, Hawick, and Kelso offered free parking and large-format stores. International brands such as Next, Argos, and B&Q arrived, followed soon by the German discounters Lidl and Aldi.
Their formula – limited ranges, efficiency, and low prices – appealed strongly to value-conscious shoppers. Aldi opened in Galashiels and Hawick; Lidl followed in Hawick and Kelso. Locals quickly learned to mix weekly trips between traditional supermarkets and these leaner alternatives.
By the 2010s, discount chains were dominant forces. Lidl’s and Aldi’s straightforward layouts and competitive pricing captured an audience weary of price wars and long aisles. Traditional supermarkets responded with price-matching campaigns and loyalty apps, but the retail balance had shifted again.
Retail parks and supermarkets also altered town planning. High-street vacancy rates rose as big chains sought larger footprints elsewhere. Galashiels remained the retail heart of the Borders, yet smaller towns struggled to keep pace. Community initiatives tried to revive local centres through farmers’ markets, craft fairs, and independent cafés emphasising experience over scale.
The Digital Revolution and Online Shopping
By the 2010s, e-commerce changed shopping more radically than any innovation since the supermarket. Consumers across the Borders could now order almost anything online – groceries, books, furniture, even fresh produce – and have it delivered to remote valleys within days.
For isolated communities, this was liberation: access without travel. For town centres, it was an existential threat. Footfall declined as residents clicked instead of calling in. During the 2020 lockdowns, online sales briefly accounted for more than a third of all UK retail, accelerating a shift already underway.
Borders towns responded with creativity. Kelso’s farmers’ market revived traditional open-air trading, attracting locals and tourists alike. Hawick and Selkirk promoted pop-up shops and cultural events. Independent retailers adopted online storefronts, blending heritage with modern technology. Some success stories emerged – niche artisans selling Borders woollens worldwide – proving that small-scale retail could adapt and thrive in the digital age.
Yet emotional ties to the old high street remain strong. Many residents recall childhood memories of bustling Saturdays, window displays at Christmas, and familiar faces behind every counter. The decline of that world evokes nostalgia because it represented more than commerce: it was community, conversation, and continuity.
The Future of Borders Retail
Looking ahead, the Scottish Borders may never regain the dense high streets of a century ago, but its retail story continues to evolve. Hybrid models – local shops with online reach, community markets with digital promotion – hint at a balanced future.
Galashiels, Hawick, and Kelso still anchor the region’s shopping, but each faces the challenge of redefining purpose in an era of convenience and connectivity. The enduring lesson of Borders retail is resilience: from medieval market squares to smartphone screens, the spirit of trade and sociability endures.
Note on Galashiels Hypermarkets
Galashiels, a town of around 12,000 people in the Scottish Borders, once punched well above its weight in retail. Uniquely, it hosted two hypermarket-format supermarkets – a Tesco Extra and an Asda – side by side. These largest-format stores, more commonly seen in major cities’ retail parks, initially drew shoppers from across the region, creating a catchment area far beyond the town itself. At their peak, the two hypermarkets reportedly handled a combined turnover exceeding £1.5 million per week. The old Co-operative superstore (later run by Tesco) alone was said to be taking between £600,000 and £800,000 weekly – even approaching £1 million during peak shopping periods – despite its relatively small sales floor. This early success cemented Galashiels’ status as the premier shopping hub of the Borders, at least for a time.
The Co-op to Tesco Transition
Galashiels’ dominance began in the era when the local Lothian, Borders & Angus Co-operative Society ran the town’s main supermarket. Anticipating that a major national chain would eventually enter the area, the Co-op struck a deal with Tesco in the late 1990s. In 1999, Tesco acquired the Galashiels superstore from the Co-op as part of a store-swap arrangement, trading several of its stores in Angus in return. This gave Tesco an instant foothold in Galashiels, taking over the Co-op’s busy Paton Street premises. The transition proved immensely fruitful – the rebranded store saw booming trade. It reportedly broke sales records for its size, operating at full capacity as shoppers from all over the Borders flocked in. The store’s turnover and customer traffic quickly outgrew the modest dimensions of the old Co-op building.
Race to Build Larger Stores
By the mid-2000s, it was clear that the small town-centre Tesco could not handle the demand. Tesco planned a much larger Tesco Extra hypermarket on Paton Street – a modern, elevated (“on stilts”) store with parking beneath. Around the same time, rival Asda, then owned by Wal-Mart, also secured permission to build a large new superstore at the nearby Currie Road site. This set the stage for an unusual race: both of Galashiels’ new hypermarkets were being constructed concurrently, making the town one of the few in Britain to host both a Tesco and an Asda closed for rebuilding at the same time.
Contractors raced to complete construction before the crucial Christmas season. Asda opened its new Galashiels superstore on 20 November 2006, and Tesco Extra followed just weeks later on 4 December – barely finished, but open in time for the holidays. Tesco even used its car park as temporary warehousing until the interior fit-out was complete. The spectacle of two hypermarkets launching within weeks of each other in a town of barely 12,000 people drew national notice.
Planning officials had questioned the need for two such stores, and there was controversy over the demolition of an historic building to make way for Tesco’s parking. The company won approval only on the condition that it reconstructed the old façade to preserve the town’s heritage character.
Dominance and Decline of a Retail Hub
For several years, Galashiels reigned as the Borders’ retail capital. With Tesco and Asda pulling in shoppers from every direction, weekly sales remained exceptionally high. Residents of outlying towns such as Hawick, Kelso, Peebles, and Selkirk routinely travelled to Galashiels for greater choice and bulk shopping. The combined effect of both hypermarkets turned Galashiels into a de facto regional shopping centre, and each store justified its investment through strong early turnover.
However, that success was short-lived. Over the next decade, every major Borders town gained its own large supermarket, eroding Galashiels’ once-exclusive catchment area. Competing chains opened stores closer to customers’ homes. Hawick, Kelso, Peebles, and even smaller towns saw new or expanded supermarkets arrive, drawing away trade. As a result, Galashiels’ Tesco and Asda no longer enjoyed their former dominance. What had once been vast weekly takings slowly declined as the retail spend redistributed across the region.
Adding to the pressure, the German discount chains Lidl and Aldi entered the Borders market and rapidly gained popularity. Aldi opened in Galashiels and later expanded to meet demand, while Aldi opened nearby on the A7 retail corridor. Their straightforward model – efficiency, limited ranges, and low prices – appealed strongly to value-conscious shoppers. The discounters’ growing market share came largely at the expense of Tesco and Asda, forcing them to trim prices and cut costs. Lidl’s current expansion in Galashiels underlines its success and the continuing shift towards discount retailing.
The Present Reality
Today, Tesco Extra and Asda in Galashiels are among the least profitable in their respective UK portfolios. Once record-breaking performers, they are now struggling to maintain viability in a smaller, more competitive market. The twin hypermarkets face the challenge of sustaining high overheads – large, complex buildings with multi-level layouts, extensive staffing, heavy utility use, and the ongoing costs of maintenance and depreciation.
As other Borders towns became self-sufficient in retail and discount supermarkets captured growing loyalty, the economic case for two massive stores in Galashiels weakened. Footfall is lower, margins are tighter, and the energy costs of operating such large spaces have soared. The irony is clear: Galashiels’ early retail success led directly to its decline, as investment followed its example and spread across the Borders.
Today, local observers and retail analysts question whether two full-scale hypermarkets can coexist in such a modestly sized town. Some suggest a future downsizing or conversion of space, perhaps into mixed retail and leisure use. Others predict one may eventually close. Whatever happens, the lesson from Galashiels is one of retail overreach – the transition from dominance to difficulty within a single generation.
The rise of Lidl and Aldi, the shift to online shopping, and the fragmentation of regional loyalty have combined to undermine the traditional hypermarket model. What once symbolised modern convenience now represents an outdated scale for a town whose consumers have embraced smaller, cheaper, and more flexible ways to shop.
Galashiels’ story serves as a microcosm of the wider retail transformation sweeping Britain. It charts the arc from boom to saturation, from local pride to quiet decline – and leaves open the question of whether these vast stores can adapt before the next chapter in Borders retail begins.
