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Collins & Son has been an integral part of the communities where our shops have been based for the 70+ years we have been operating. The business, which is now in its third generation of the Collins family was initially started by Stewart Collins in 1955 in Coatbridge. Control of the business then passed to Stewart’s son (also called Stewart) in 1970.
The late 70’s then saw a number of changes within the business, most notably offering a home delivery service, opening a new premises in Muirhead (where we continue to operate from to this day) and the start of our very proud and long-established history of becoming an award-winning butcher.
The late 90’s saw us sell the shop in Coatbridge to then-manager William Wilson as well as us being accepted into Q Guild of Butchers, complete with an A-rated EFSIS.
The new millennium heralded the arrival of Stewart Collins (the third) and his wife Giselle into the family business, who would, in due course go onto take over the running of the business. In 2006 we started on a continuous journey of augmenting our product range, with the introduction of a new slimming range of products, which helped us to develop a reputation as a butcher who provides our customers with a fantastic choice of products.
Our products were starting to gain more and more recognition as they continued to pick up awards for taste and consistency. In the late noughties another big development took place in the business when we set up our first website, a process that would to this day adapt and evolve to account for changing customer demands.
Also towards the end of the noughties, Fraser, Stewart’s brother, joined the business and together the Collins brothers would set about taking the business onto further success, by overseeing a number of important changes within the business.
We started this decade off with a bang by extending our shop, which gave us more counter space and provided us with the ability to expand our butchery area in the back, being able to accommodate more new machines which would in-turn help us to develop our product range. It was also around this time that we scooped six awards in the one ceremony at the Smithfield Awards, which was a proud moment for everyone in the business.
Our products continued to gain national recognition and it was around this time that our Steak Pie became the West Of Scotland Champion. We also dipped our toe into the world of social media by launching Facebook and Twitter profiles, which has proven to be a great way to communicate our offering to our customers.
Finally in 2012 after 2 years as runner-up we went onto be crowned ‘Butcher Shop of the Year’ (an accolade that we would win on 3 occasions), which was a real highlight of the history of our business. More awards success continued, with many of our products receiving national recognition at awards ceremonies throughout the UK.
In 2013 we launched our now famous ‘Gold Card’ which rewarded customers for their loyalty. In 2014 the business received local recognition by winning Lanarkshire Business Excellence Awards for the category of ‘Best Food and drink’.
Another massive step for the business came in 2014 when we launched our new website, that now allowed us to take customer orders online as well as launching our very successful ‘Click & Collect’ order system. The technological developments did not stop there and in 2016 we launched our mobile app.
2017 saw us win the title again of ‘Butcher Shop of the Year’ and Innovation Award Winner, for our mobile app. This was also the year we made an appearance at the Royal Highland Show, where we showed off our butchering skills.
We were delighted to finally open the new extension of our shop in 2018, which again gave us more space and allowed us to offer a wider range of products. Again, many of our products continued to win awards and this time it was the turn of our Ultimate Burger when it won a Smithfield Award.
We continued to develop our website offering during this time, enhancing ways that customers could shop with us as well as augmenting our product range.
The COVID pandemic had a big impact on our business as we had to introduce a number of changes to the business in order for us to comply with legislation and keep our staff and customers safe. It was certainly a difficult period for the business with many, many long hours but it was great to see how the community around us all rallied together.
During this time (2022) we also picked up the title of Butcher Shop of the Year, now for the 3rd time, which we believe shows our hunger to continue to be a success in all that we do.
Well, quite simply we’ve never been a business to rest on our laurels…it’s just not in our nature. We will continue to look for ways that we can augment our product range and develop our customer experience. We have a fantastic team within the business and it really is a joy to hear people compliment our team on their service and professionalism.
It’s been a fantastic journey that the Collins family have been on for the last 70 years…who knows what the next 70 will bring us…watch this space!
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