About us

It all started in 1944 when Thomas (Cherry) Borthwick and his son Hugh (Eric) left the recession hit poultry industry and started a new career as newsagents taking over from Mr Quentin on the roundabout at Comely Bank. Backed initially by a Mr James (hence the name - there never was a James Borthwick) that is how James Borthwick came into being. In the early days father and son would cycle in each day from Ratho for their 5.30am start until the family moved closer to the shop. By the early 1970's Mr James was no longer involved with the business and it was very much a Borthwick family business with Cherry, Eric and his wife Babs running the shop. In 1976 David became the third generation of Borthwick to join the business. At that time the shop closed for lunch and had a half day on a Wednesday. In the same year a young teenager called David Gray got his first paper round. This paper round led to a part time job in the shop during school and university and the two Davids became business partners in 1990. Since then we have extended the shop (in 1994) enabling us to sell chilled goods and expand the deliveries to businesses and hotels. In 2019 we refitted the shop to take account of modern buying trends but we still maintain the welcoming atmosphere of a small local independent.