About Begg Shoes - Who We Are

About Us

Established in 1866, Begg Shoes has over 155 years of footwear industry expertise. The business began as a shoemaker and has evolved to become one of the oldest surviving independent shoe retailers in the UK. Begg Shoes is a family-run business with the sixth generation of Beggs joining the family business in 2013. Read more and learn about the full History of Begg Shoes here.

Begg Shoes aims to provide an excellent overall customer experience, with a warm welcome and expert advice in every store. Product collections cater for Women, Men and Kids and are handpicked from the biggest and best shoemakers in the world, with a particular focus on quality. Every season delivers exciting new ideas, as only an independent store can.

The business has evolved in an ever-changing retail environment, combining the history of footwear expertise with modern retail technologies. Together, these are key to continued success.

The name Begg Shoes has become well-known throughout Scotland and increasingly further afield via the website. Web shipments are sent directly from stores to customers, offering a personal touch. Behind every parcel sits an expert customer service team, ready to help and advise.

Independent Retail Stores

Begg Shoes has nine standalone stores in Scotland. Stores are located as far north as Shetland and the Orkney Isles, to Perth in the centre of Scotland. Inverness is the operational heart of the business, where the office headquarters is located as well as two Inverness shoe shops which have provided a huge variety of family footwear to the Highland capital for over 40 years.

Before the headquarters moved to Inverness in 2013, Elgin was the home of Begg Shoes, where there are two shops on the High Street. Our other shoe stores are located near Aberdeen, in Inverurie and Peterhead. See our Store Locator page for detailed maps and contact information.

In 2013, Begg Shoes acquired five new stores from DE Shoes. This safeguarded over 40 jobs and extended the business in the North and Northeast of Scotland.

Loyalty Rewards

Hugely popular, the Loyalty Rewards scheme run by Begg Shoes is simple to use and highly rewarding to its members in-store and online. Members earn Loyalty Rewards on all of their purchases – spend £200 and earn a free £10 voucher. There are no membership cards or secret passwords to remember, just an email address to track account rewards.

Kids Loyalty Cards are also issued in stores, adding incentive to use the expert kids' foot measure and fit service offered. Customers earn a Free Pair of Shoes after 10 qualifying purchases from the Kids' shoe range.

Fast Turnaround Experts

With stores shipping orders directly, a fast turnaround is one of the biggest advantages of shopping with Begg Shoes. Teams can find, pack and send items out on the same day before 2 pm. Online customers in the UK also benefit from free Express UK Shipping on orders over £30, free Click and Collect to stores and excellent value international delivery rates. 

Price Match Promise

Begg Shoes aims to offer straightforward and transparent pricing to customers. Seasonal sale price reductions are maintained all year round, with genuinely discounted prices always available online. We are more than happy to match prices so if you see something cheaper online, please let us know and we will match the price. Read more about the Price Match Promise terms and conditions.

Unique Product Ranges

Ranges span the whole family – with men's, women's and kids' shoes in every size and colour. Begg Shoes is proud to stock a wide variety of well-known brands, but we are always excited to offer something a bit different, with high-quality products from new and exciting shoemakers.

Fitting properties, comfort and quality of construction are key considerations within product ranges. Seeking to avoid disposable Fast Fashion products, Begg Shoes works hard to showcase collections that are worth a little more and last a little longer every season.

Check out the Brands page for a full rundown on the latest names in stores or check out the latest Trends page for other seasonal highlights from the latest product selections available online and in-store.

Our People

Teams in Begg Shoes store are highly trained and experienced shoe fitters. The business continues to invest in training and development to maintain traditional shoe-fitting expertise in the modern retail environment.

Children’s shoe fitting is an area of particular focus and this is directly overseen by Garek Begg, a hugely experienced shoe fitter and passionate shoe repairer. Begg Shoes is registered under the Children's Foot Health Register and seeks to set a high standard for shoe fitting.

With kid’s shoe fitting Begg Shoes pursues the Best Fit principle and aims to offer practical children’s shoe fashion shapes and styles. Together these help to protect fast-growing and vulnerable feet. Hands-on training and experience are essential to understand the subtle differences between shapes, sizes and fittings when working with kids' shoes.

Teams undergo specialist training with other professionals and industry experts, including training with the industry expert body the Society of Shoe Fitters. Teams also proactively train with local foot health professionals including podiatrists, physiotherapists and footwear manufacturers to learn and understand the wider context of foot health and the impact of footwear construction.

Read Our Blog

The blog covers a wide range of footwear-related topics. This includes seasonal product style guides, shoe care advice, the best footwear for various foot problems and more. Read the blog here.

Careers

Begg Shoes is an innovative and successful company to work for and are proud to be an independent and family-run business offering the Real Living Wage to its teams. Take a look at the careers page to find out what it is like to work for Begg Shoes.

Begg Shoes in the Press

Begg Shoes: How one family is the heart and sole of Scotland's biggest independent shoe retailer - April 2024

Highland Charity aims to provide school shoes for families during cost-of-living crisis - July 2023

Begg Shoes recognised as 'Best Newcomer' at Living Wage Scotland Awards - November 2022

Person Behind the Business: We've survived and thrived through traumatic times - October 2022

Long-serving Begg's staff members are honoured - May 2022

Begg Shoes marks 155 years in business with a move to paying Real Living Wage - November 2021

Best foot forward for shoe shop chain - August 2021

Inverness business offers vouchers to every pupil from a fire-hit school - February 2020

Begg Shoes buy five stores set to close, saving 50 jobs - April 2013

Work With Charities

Begg Shoes aims to support local campaigns and fundraisers with meaningful support and has taken part in a range of campaigns. 

Fundraising efforts have included the Loyalty Get to Give campaign with Marie Curie in 2019, during which we raised a fantastic £2,924 over a one-month promotion where 10% of all qualifying purchases was donated to the charity.

During 2020, Begg Shoes partnered with Sal's Shoes, which is a brilliant UK charity run by volunteers. Their sole aim is to provide high-quality, outgrown footwear to children who can benefit from them in countries all over the world. Each of our stores is collecting outgrown but not outworn shoes - in good condition - ready for a new pair of little feet. 

Environment and Social Responsibility

Begg Shoes aims to minimise the environmental impact of our business activities. As a combined local store and web-based retailer, the main aim is to offer a service that can mitigate the carbon-intensive home delivery and returns culture of purely online retailers.

Please refer to the Social and Environmental Policy for more information on the challenges experienced and steps being taken to progress towards a more environmentally sustainable business for the future.

Corporate Identity

Begg Shoes and Bags Limited, known as Begg Shoes, is a limited company registered in Scotland. The board of directors comprises members of the Begg family, who manage the business day to day from an office headquarters in Inverness.

Begg Shoes

28 Union Street

Inverness

IV1 1PX

SC257794

VAT number 790 1220 56