United Wholesale Grocers Ltd is a family owned and run business. UWG, the brand that exists today in Glasgow, is the result of over thirty five years of hard work by my father, Mr Mohammad Ramzan, who started out with a fiver in his pocket, and is today the owner of a multi-million pound empire that we operate today.

My father arrived in Glasgow from Pakistan in 1974 and was always destined to work in Retail and Wholesale. His first venture was selling clothes door-to-door which included travelling to places such as Dunoon in which he had to take a bus, train then ferry to reach his destination.  He would carry a suitcase and cover more than six miles of land by foot.

My father had a lot of friends in the Grocery Sector and took major interest in this market.  In 1975, after saving up enough money, he opened his first convenience store, an empty property that needed a complete renovation whilst continuing the door-to-door business. His efforts paid off and in the first year his turn over was £4,500 a week.

A year later he purchased a second shop nearby, and it was here that the opportunity came along to enter the wholesale industry.

A regular dairy products supplier went out of business so my father saw the opportunity to fill this gap and supply all the local stores in the area. In 1977 he opened a small 2,000 sq ft premises and soon added more ranges like confectionery, snacks and tobacco. The business thrived to achieve a £16 million turnover.

United Wholesale was born...

With the wholesale business thriving, He soon outgrew his first depot and relocated to a bigger 20,000 sq ft depot, becoming a full cash and carry and achieving a turnover of £40 million. Nine years later his second depot opened – a 100,000 sq ft premises at Springburn. United Wholesale was born.

In 2001, United Wholesale became a member of Landmark and a year later the business was split with my father retaining the Springburn business, which was achieving a turnover of £39 million, and his brother operating the Maxwell Road depot, which then had a turnover of £60 million.

In 2004, our Polmadie depot opened. From its 32,000 sq ft selling space, United’s Polmadie depot customer base was predominantly smaller CTN’s and Grocers with the addition of alcohol in recent years.

Future Plans

Looking to the future, the immediate plan is to extend the Polmadie depot to 75,000 sq ft, which is due for completion May 2011.

This will be in time to take advantage of the regeneration taking place in and around the Polmadie area. A new five-mile stretch of motorway is being added to the M74 in Glasgow which will pass right by the depot and make Polmadie more accessible to a wider customer base.

Nabeel Ramzan

Managing Director