Award winning independent SPAR retailer Saleem Sadiq is celebrating his 30th anniversary with SPAR at his store on Paisley Road in Renfrew, Scotland.
In the 1930s, Saleem’s grandparents owned a local store – or ‘Huttie’ as shops were known as – in a small village in the Gujrat district in Punjab in what was then the new country of Pakistan. And so, the family of shopkeepers were known as the local ‘Huttie Wallahs.’
At the age of ten, Saleem arrived in Glasgow with his family in the mid nineteen sixties, speaking almost no English. Nine years later he began his degree in Physiology and Pharmacology at the University of Glasgow.
His father had also been busy at the same time, working to realise his dream of having his own business. That began with a newsagent’s shop on Glasgow’s south side and eventually joining SPAR in 1984.
When Saleem graduated from university in the 1980s he decided to take a gap year working in the family business, and 40 years later he is still in there!
In March 1994 Saleem took over a store south of the River Clyde in Renfrew and joined SPAR. After a substantial makeover, the new SPAR opened and doubled the takings of the previous store in its first week. Ever since then, growth continued, and SPAR Renfrew has become one of the most awarded independently owned symbol stores in Scotland.
SPAR Renfrew and members of its team have taken many Scottish retailing awards over the years. Saleem has also played a huge role in the wider industry. A SPAR man through and through, Saleem has served on the Scottish SPAR Guild and the National Guild Board of SPAR for many years. He has also served as an executive committee member of the SGF. In his home community he and his store continue to make many important contributions to local good causes.
Now head of the family business, Saleem runs several SPAR stores in and around Glasgow with his brothers. But the heart of it all is SPAR Renfrew.
Managing Director, Saleem Sadiq, said: “I am thrilled to celebrate our 30th anniversary with SPAR in Renfrew. SPAR is the only real symbol group in the UK. Convenience retailing is hard work but there are huge benefits in having the SPAR fascia above the door. It is the strong partnership, the support, the sharing of good practice, the knowledge, the friends we have made, and above all the feeling of belonging. The SPAR family has made it easy for me to stay with SPAR.
“We are a team of local people with local knowledge working in our stores and that is a huge benefit. We have grown together as a community and to me that is what makes us stand out, that is what brings shopper loyalty and respect.
“It has been a journey over the decades, and it will hopefully not end with me – the next generation is already knocking on the door! Waseem, one of my sons, has already joined the family business and he hopes to carry the SPAR name on within our family convenience business well into the next 40 years! Convenience retailing is our passion because once a Huttie Wallah, always a Huttie Wallah!”
Colin McLean, CEO of SPAR Scotland added: “Congratulations to Saleem, the Sadiq family and all the staff and customers of SPAR Renfrew. It is a wonderful family history in convenience retailing and today a brilliant SPAR business. Local retailing is at the heart of everything they do, and we wish Saleem continued success with his business – both in this generation and the next.”
Saleem and his family, colleagues and customers celebrated with an instore party at SPAR Renfrew on Friday 22nd March.
