Isle of Luing Stores

16/08/2026

Birgit is having to set up a new Facebook account after being hacked. Please accept a friend request from her. They are genuine.

11/08/2026

Here’s the rest of The Scotsman article published today. Please SHARE to let your friends know about this great business opportunity on the lovely Isle of Luing.

The couple who run the only shop on a small west coast island are putting the business up for sale so they can get married and spend more time together.
Norman Bissell, 80, and his fiancée, Birgit Whitmore, have run the Isle of Luing Stores on Luing for the past eight years, but say they are now ready to hand over the shop before their wedding later this year.
The couple initially took on the business because they feared it would close, leaving the island’s 200 or so residents without a shop and forcing them to take a ferry across the Cuan Sound to Balvicar for groceries. Now, with their wedding approaching, they say they want to step back from running the store and enjoy more time together.
Mr Bissell, a published author who has lived on the island for almost two decades, said: “Luing Stores is a successful business. We are just selling up because we want to spend more time together rather than having one of us at home and the other in the shop. We are getting married in September and we feel it’s time to do something else. We want to travel more and I am not getting any younger.”
The couple, who live in Cullipool, where the shop is located, said they hoped to find someone willing to take on the business and keep it at the heart of island life.
“The shop is a vital part of the Luing community,” Mr Bissell said. “It would be a great loss if it closed. We’re not going anywhere so we’ll still be around to help train people or help with accounts for whoever is interested in taking it on.”
Home to about 200 residents, Luing is the largest of the Slate Islands, a small group of islands in the Inner Hebrides. The other islands include Seil, Easdale, Shuna, Torsa, and Belnahua. Since the couple took on the Luing shop, they now stock Luing beef from a herd of cattle established on the island in the 1940s by the Cadzow family. The family created the breed by crossing Beef Shorthorn and Highland cattle to produce a hardy, efficient animal suited to the island’s harsh weather. The cattle were then recognised as a breed in their own right by the UK Government in 1965.
The shop also sells mutton from Seil, produce from Alba Seafoods near Oban, as well as a range of groceries, cards and books. Mr Bissell said the support of local customers had been crucial to keeping the business going.
“The Luing Shopping Club led by Anja Lamont and our other regular customers are the lifeblood of the business and we are very grateful to them for their custom,” he said. We would also like to thank Alan Gibson who looked after the Shop and Post Office so well on Mondays and Bridget Blythe who also does a superb job on the days when we are away.”
The couple said anyone interested in taking on the shop can drop in over the summer or email [email protected].

Tiny island's shopkeepers sell up shop to marry each other and 'enjoy married life'

10/08/2026

Here's the full story online in today's Oban Times!

Norman Bissell and Birgit Whitmore are set to marry later this year and have been prompted by the upcoming event to take the plunge into a different lifestyle. For eight years the couple have owned & run Isle of Luing Stores, a post office, licensed grocery, and gift shop but now they are keen to create more time together for their many passions and to travel.
�With this in mind, Norman and Birgit have decided to put the business up for sale in the hope of finding new owners who will continue their legacy and provide the community with its lifeline services.
“We have very much enjoyed serving the Luing community in the Shop and Post Office over the past eight years and hope that others will come forward to take on this successful business,” Norman said. “It is a vital part of the Luing community, and it would be a great loss if it closed.”

Norman is a published author, and Birgit makes jewellery and other gifts when she is not working as the island’s postmistress.

“Since we are getting married later this year and would like to spend more time together and travel more, we have decided to put Luing Stores up for sale,” Norman explained. “We bought it almost eight years ago from Gordon Robbie and have considerably expanded the range of groceries, craft beers, wines and spirits, and have introduced Luing beef, Seil mutton and Alba Seafoods for sale.”

"We also now sell many more crafts, cards and art made on Luing. Visitors to the island who come into the shop often remark how impressed they are by the range of goods they can buy when they are here and to take home with them.”
While the shop is on the market it will continue to trade as usual with the support of the local community.

“The Luing Shopping Club led by Anja Lamont and our other regular customers are the lifeblood of the business and we are very grateful to them for their custom,” Norman added. “We would also like to thank Alan Gibson who looked after the shop and Post Office so well on Mondays and Bridget Blythe who also does a superb job on the days when we are away.”

Fancy running your own shop? Luing's general store is up on the market after eight years under the stewardship of Norman Bissell and Birgit Whitmore, who are hoping a buyer will come forward to keep the lifeline services it provides going.

Read more: https://www.westcoasttoday.co.uk/news/luing-lifeline-stores-seeks-new-owners

07/08/2026

We're in The Herald - the longest running national newspaper in the world!! Please Share this far and wide - to alert people who would like to run their own successful Shop and Post Office to keep them going for the sake of the many islanders and visitors who use them. It's a great place to live and work. Ignore the arrow in this pic, we're situated outside Cullipool Village near the Fladda houses.

With a population of less than 200 people, the island is a short ferry crossing from the Isle of Seil – itself connected to the mainland by the much-photographed Bridge over the Atlantic 👇

28/07/2026

Successful Island Shop For Sale! Luing Stores, the only shop on the Isle of Luing, offers a great business opportunity! It has a wide range of groceries, wines, craft beers, Luing crafts, cards and books. Come and see for yourself or find out more from [email protected], tel. 01852 314276.

25/07/2026

25/07/2026

It’s all happening at the Scarecrow Craft Fair on Seil tomorrow from 11 am to 4 pm. But get there early to choose from the full selection of Birgit’s beautiful sea glass necklaces and slate mosaics! My latest book and the summer edition of the Luing Newsletter will also be on sale. See you there.

24/07/2026

Are you coming along on Sunday? Birgit has made lovely rhubarb jam and beautiful new Sea Glass Jewellery as well as slate mosaics, and I'll be bringing copies of my latest book Living on an Island Expressing the Earth and other books for sale! Hope to see you there.

20/07/2026

Fancy a trip to the beautiful slate Isle of Luing? If so, call in at Luing Stores Information Point to find out the best walks, places to swim, and other local knowledge of where to go! Luing author Norman Bissell will be in the Shop every Monday and Tuesday from 11 am to 3 pm and on Saturdays from 11 am to 2 pm to help you make the most of your visit. And Luing Art Works gallery in the Shop has a great selection of books and artwork by local artists. Best of all, this voluntary information service is entirely FREE! See you there!