A Little Bit About Us!

North of St Andrews was founded in 2000 by Willie Stott.
The concept for the business started back in 1995/96 when I came across eBay whilst searching for a rare records - I used to buy/trade via newsgroups, bulletin boards & so on - and eBay soon became a regular hobby of mine! Further down the line I tried selling some things via eBay & gradually it grew beyond buying & selling records that I was collecting into going around 2nd-hand record shops looking for UK-issued CD singles which were unavailable in the USA.
I then graduated from The University of Abertay, Dundee in June 2000 with an Honours Degree in Marketing with Retail & Distribution Management

Following this brief introduction into e-commerce through eBay, with St Andrews (The Home of Golf) on the doorstep as well as a general interest in Scottish regalia, I had finally found something I would like to try after graduating. Whilst working for someone else running a supermarket, store or marketing department had appeal, owning & running my own business had an even greater appeal.
I applied for a further course at The University of Abertay - A postgraduate diploma in Entrepreneurship, but my business idea was rejected.

I then started going to the Dundee Business Shop in August/September 2000, and on the 26th September 2000 officially became a business/company in the United Kingdom. After this date I started by building a presence at eBay, constantly increasing & expanding my range of items on offer there, the website then followed in February 2001 with the first official upload over weekend of 17th & 18th February 2001.

North of St Andrews was a runner-up finalist in the Shell Livewire Young Entrepreneur Awards 2002. North of St Andrews has also received several eBay community awards for service & advice.

FAQ: "Why North of St Andrews as a name?"!!

When I first applied to the university in June 2000 for a further year of study, I had to submit a name for my plan/company. With St Andrews only being 20miles away & with golf memorabilia being the then main product-range, having "St Andrews" in business name would give universal appeal to target customer group. Although the main products now are Scottish Clan & Tartan items, when the name was coined quite simply it  referred to where we are - 20 miles or so to the North of St Andrews. Although many of our suppliers now simply refer to us as Nosta !

A Little Trivia!

The name & correct "spelling", well appearance, is St Andrews , and not "St. Andrews".
The town name is actually St Andrews, and although widely held that the St is an abbreviation of "Saint", whilst the town is indeed named after Saint Andrew, the town name, golf courses etc. are all "St" and not "St.". This is true of a few towns around the UK.