Doors open again at McLean’s as Strathspey shop moves into Badenoch!
A tiny shop that served a Strathspey farming community for almost 80 years before closing its doors in the early 1970s has been given a new lease of life at Badenoch’s Highland Folk Museum.
McLean’s Shop is the museum’s newest exhibit, having been donated by the original shopkeeper’s great granddaughter.
Jessie McLean opened the business at Balnain, near Dulnain Bridge in the late 1800s, with her husband Lachlan taking over the till in 1909 after Jessie passed away. Following Lachlan’s death in 1925, the shop then passed to their son Donald and his wife Elsie, with the final McLean shopkeeper being their son Sandy, who lived at Balnain most of his adult life.
Not much more than a shed added on to the end of the family cottage, McLean’s Shop served the local farming community in the days when farm labourers were plentiful and large supermarkets unheard of. Sadly, the opposite came to pass and with the little shop no longer sustainable, Sandy flipped the closed sign over for the last time in the early 1970’s.
The official ‘re-opening’ of McLean’s Shop took place on Thursday (May 15) in the run up to International Museum Day tomorrow, with Jessie’s great granddaughter Ruth Black there to do the honours.
She said: “I’m absolutely thrilled the shop has been brought back to life at the museum.
“The whole idea originally came from my Auntie Elsa and my dad’s friend Alasdair MacKay, who first got in touch with the museum to see if they’d be interested. Sadly, my dad passed away last year, but I know he would’ve been over the moon with how it’s turned out.
“He had such a deep emotional connection to the family home — the shop wasn’t just a building to him, it was part of who he was. It’s a real shame he didn’t get to see it finished, but I’m sure he’d be so proud of what’s been done.”
The shop, with all its vintage fixtures and fittings and retro groceries is bound to stir a few memories of shopping days gone by for visitors to the High Life Highland run museum.
Helen Pickles, curator at the Highland Folk Museum commented: “We are absolutely delighted to have been gifted this treasure of a wee shop, which served the local community so well for the best part of 80 years.
“It is a privilege for us to be able to carry on the McLean family’s retailing legacy here at the Highland Folk Museum and I am sure the exhibit will delight those who recall shops like this one – and will highlight to younger generations what shopping was like before supermarkets!”
The museum at Newtonmore offers visitors a unique perspective on Highland history from the 1700s to the 1950s. There are over 35 historical buildings onsite to explore and discover how people lived, worked, went to school and enjoyed their leisure time.
Open daily, there is no charge but donations are welcome.
