Curation, Craft, and Forty Five Years of Paper Tiger

It was a privilege to join Alan Smith and Alex Richards for a bit of a ramble down memory lane on the Edinburgh Business Stories podcast.

We covered a lot of ground, from my early days at Tesco and Booths, to my formative years as part of the HMV success story - Top Dog On The High Street - in the ’90s. However, the heart of the conversation was the (almost) twenty nine year journey I’ve shared with Paper Tiger Edinburgh.

When I talk about Paper Tiger, it is very important to me to honour the original vision of our founder, John Johnson. John was a retail pioneer; he established the Studio One Shop in the West End in 1966, and later created Paper Tiger in 1981. During an intense period of retail creativity, John opened cook shops, upholsterers, furniture shops, galleries, and even a record shop in St Stephen Street - a whole array of Edinburgh Originals. 

He has undoubtedly changed me, and he changed the High Street in Edinburgh, creating a retail legacy that has now lasted for sixty years. I began my time here as a franchisee, working closely with John to grow the business. Since taking over ten years ago, I have been proud to protect those "founding principles" he established: good design sold at sensible prices in stylish shops. 

In the podcast, I mention that we are "nice people in nice shops, selling nice things made by other nice people, to nice customers who want to give nice things to the nice people in their lives." Nice? "Nice" is a greatly undervalued adjective; it can sound a bit glib, but it is basically true. Maintaining an independent business for over forty five years isn't just about the 'nice things' on the shelves; it is about the hard retail graft and the great people required to stay relevant.

As Paper Tiger celebrates its 45th anniversary this summer, I’m immensely proud of how we’ve grown:

- Expanding to four physical locations, including our new shops in Morningside (that's John & I outside the shop in 2023) and in Stockbridge.
- Building a robust e-commerce presence that ships across the UK.
- Continuing our commitment as one of Scotland’s first Living Wage Foundation employers.

It is an honour to continue the legacy John started, and a joy to see our original sister business, Studio One, still trading in Morningside today. In fact, it’s really nice.

So is the podcast! You can watch and listen to the full episode here!