Top of the Shops – Beaver Travel, Elgin

A coffee machine or a drinks-fridge is not an unusual feature in a high street travel agency in 2016. But Beaver Travel in Elgin has brewed up something rather special with its fully functioning in-store café.

“We saw a similar set-up while on holiday in New Zealand, where a café and a tourist board office had been combined, and thought perhaps it could work for us,” explains owner Fiona Widdowson.

Ten years ago, Beaver Travel therefore moved into a much larger premises on a busy corner, with an expansive shop-front. A six-month refurbishment turned this former shoe shop into a smart wooden-floored retail space with the café and a gift shop at the front, and six travel desks at the back.

It’s a light, airy space, with comfy leather sofas in the café, and neat brochure shelves and world maps in the agency area. Judges loved the tasteful colour-scheme of mint, teal and blue that runs throughout the store, even stretching to the team’s elegant uniform.

While some of the shop’s windows advertise holiday suggestions, there is as much focus on the goods that can be purchased in the gift-shop, from travel-themed stationery and books to greetings cards and high-quality children’s toys, making it difficult to walk by without stopping.

Beaver’s café does a roaring trade, with its homemade soup, salads, cakes and biscuits seeing it rated one of the best of the 72 restaurants in Elgin on TripAdvisor. There is often an internationally-inspired dish of the week, but haggis panini remains the café’s best-seller.

Both the café and gift shop have proven incredibly good for business, but it wasn’t just gourmet coffee that turned our judges’ heads at this store: knowledgeable staff, impeccable customer service and clever ways of working with the local community are what makes the travel agency side of the business just as successful. And thanks to having an incredibly friendly and close-knit team, you can be sure of a welcome as warm as its freshly-baked scones at Beaver Travel.

• beavertravel.com