SHOP WATCH Corbie, Edinburgh, Scotland

A shining example

I imagine every shop owner when they refurbish a new or existing shop, feels that they’ve got the best looking business in town. So when I received a phone call at Fry HQ from Scotsman Paolo Crolla saying that he had the refit to end all refits and that his shop, Corbie, puts all the ones in our magazine to shame, there was only one thing for it. I had to check it out for myself, after all those are some very brave words!
And wow, this shop certainly does take your breath away. There isn’t a single surface that doesn’t gleam – from the huge floor to ceiling windows, to the black shopfront to the stunning stainless steel and orange vinyl lettering that creates the name. One thing’s for sure, you definitely want to venture inside where glossy orange splash backs, recessed pizza ovens and drinks fridges, a flat screen TV and neon lighting add to the sleek, modern finish. The detail even continues on to the ceiling making it look more like a hotel restaurant than a fish and chip shop.
“Initially I was going to do the same thing here that I had done with my other shop, Gold Sea, which is about three miles away,” explains Paolo. “It’s the same size, has a similar layout and it’s become one of the top shops in Edinburgh. But when I met with my designer he took everything away from what was in my head. I just couldn’t have imagined what he came up with.”
The detached property, set in the affluent Davidson’s Mains area of Edinburgh, had been leased out for a number of years but hadn’t had any money spent on it in at least 30 thinks Paolo. With a leaking roof and broken equipment, it was run down and had been left behind. Despite all this it still had a good reputation for fish and chips and it was turning a reasonable profit. “Looking at the place, I felt confident that by doing the right thing I could make it great again,” says Paolo.
He convinced the owner to sell the shop and when he received the keys on 1st November, he instantly shut it down not to reopen again until 11 weeks and a staggering £300,000 later.
“We virtually took the roof off and turned it upside down,” says Paolo. “I could have salvaged certain things but I didn’t want to. The range, peeler, chipper, it was all taken away and replaced with new, even down to the knife to put the butter on the bread.”
The layout also changed. For starters Paolo did away with all the seating to completely open up the space. To one side a new Preston and Thomas range was installed and to the other a pizza and kebab counter. The new layout means the shop can accommodate a queue of about 70 people.
Even the range got the Corbie treatment with the front panel constructed of glass and wood with the shop’s name in neon letters inside.
But it’s the logo, which was created by Direct Neon, that really provides the focal point of this shop. “I don’t know how their minds work,” enthuses Paolo. “I went online initially and found a company that gave me about 30 logos to choose from but I was told by my signage company that they wouldn’t be able to fabricate any of them. So I went to Direct Neon whose in-house designer came up with this one, and as soon as I saw it I knew I had to have it.”
When the shop finally opened on 17th January it was five weeks behind schedule and a staggering £80,000 over Paolo’s initial budget, but he wasn’t going to accept anything less. “I knew the shop could be great again, but I had no idea it would be as good as it is. After hearing customers, talk about it and the wider fish and chip shop community, I now believe it’s a shop worthy of the area.”
To celebrate the opening, Corbie gave away free chips on its opening day, getting through about 30 bags. And it’s been positive news ever since with trade more than doubling since the refurbishment, although Paolo doesn’t put that purely down to the redesign: “The fish we sell is absolutely colossal, it’s about 20 ounces. It’s what the shop was famous for and we didn’t want to change it and have people complaining that we were selling smaller fish.”
At £5.70 for fish and chips that’s incredibly good value for money, but customers can also enjoy a range of other food from kebabs, freshly made pizzas, pies, burgers and jacket potatoes. “When you’re running a busy, successful shop you can go out and source better ingredients. If you’re not busy you can lose interest. It’s that demand that keeps me going,” explains Paolo.
Whether Corbie is the shopfit of all shopfits is something that will certainly be debated, I am sure, but there’s no denying the fact that it has certainly brought a different level to fish and chips in Edinburgh. “I certainly don’t think anyone would have dreamt of going to this extent with a fish and chip shop,” concludes Paolo.