HAPPY BIRTHDAY, REAL FOODS!

Celebrating half a century in business, Real Foods is putting out the bunting today at its Broughton Street store.

First operating as a market stall in the south of England, the company helped fuel the Aldermaston ‘Ban the Bomb’ marchers in the 1960s as they set off from a country house in the Chilterns. Around that time, it was also among the first in the UK to import macrobiotic foods from Belgium and Japan.

Real Foods specialises in vegetarian, fairtrade, organic, gluten-free, vegan, wheat-free and special diet food, and with over 10,000 lines is Scotland’s largest such retailer. It’s the longest-established, successful organic retailer in Britain.

David Sterratt visited this morning: ‘There was a ‘60s playlist (I heard “The Times They Are a Changin’"), and birthday cake for the first 25 customers (including me). The ‘60s nirvana was only interrupted by Kylie Minogue's "I Should Be So Lucky", signalling a lucky dip.’
The Broughton Street institution opened in 1975, originally as a storage and mail-order warehouse. Shelving – still in place now – was made from recycled, second-hand, ex-local government oak desks. The next obvious step was to invite the buying public in, and to open another branch across the city in Tollcross six years later.
In an age of corporate platitudes and national-chain ruthlessness, it’s a real pleasure to see an independent (and independently minded) business like Real Foods thriving on our high street, and reaching new customers further afield through its website.

50 years young today, and looking better than ever ... we wish it Many Happy Returns.

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