About Bùth Bharraigh
Bùth Bharraigh is a community retail and visitor hub in the heart of Castlebay, Isle of Barra. We are a social enterprise that helps our community flourish by providing a range of goods and services.
Bùth Bharraigh is a route to market for local suppliers and acts as a point of contact for many people on the island, especially through the winter months when other services on the island are closed. This helps to combat social isolation and our friendly staff are always willing to have a chat or to help people with information or services.
Since the Bùth started providing visitor information we have helped the local tourism industry by finding beds in suitable accommodation and signposting people to activities and events on the islands. We also help visitors to the island to get the most from their stay, however short or long.
Bùth Bharraigh provides volunteering, employment, training and work experience opportunities. We also support our local producers and boost the local economy by keeping money on the island. Every £1 spent in Bùth Bharraigh results in £2.58 for the local economy of Barra and Vatersay (Local Multiplier Effect based on 2019 figures).
Our retail services
One of the main functions of the Bùth is as a route to market for local goods. The Bùth provides support to the producers helping them to bring their goods to the marketplace.
The Bùth also stocks a range of items which meets the needs of their customers. This includes:-
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Local foods
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Vegetarian, vegan and gluten free
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Wholefoods and eco-products
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Arts and Craft Materials
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Yarn
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Haberdashery
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Books, maps and guides
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Fishing and other outdoor equipment
Looking for something else? Make a request to one of the staff and we will see if we can get it in stock for you.
Our other services
The Bùth runs the visitor information service on the Isle of Barra.
Other services are:-
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Accommodation finding service
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Laundry service
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Free WiFi
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Delivery service
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Book and jigsaw lending
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Small batch printing and photocopying
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Golf club hire
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Beach wheelchair hire
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Castlebay Marina
If it is just a blether you would like then our friendly staff are always happy to oblige.
The Big Renovation
One of the biggest challenges for the Bùth since it has been established has been securing future premises.
We have now been able to purchase the Old Co-op building in Castlebay where we have been based since 2013. To enable us to buy the building we went through the Community Asset Transfer process. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support as we went through this process.
We are now in the process of getting our plans updated and necessary reports done before we can fundraise for our renovation.