Waitrose in Scotland - the serious and the not so serious

I wrote an article here in January this year about the prospects of additional Waitrose stores opening in Scotland, following the news the company wished to have 20 stores here in the next five years (instead of the 3 soon to be 4 they had then - in fact since then I realise that the 4th branch in Newton Mearns opened last year).

In addition, since then I've read some more news:
- the fifth store is to be in Stirling and is expected to open in early 2013 (a report last year mentioned the 5th branch would be in Helensburgh, but as the earlier link in this paragraph is from Waitrose's own press centre and was published in February this year, whereas the second link is from a newspaper article published in January 2011, I think the later link is probably more reliable - perhaps the Helensburgh store had not yet received planning approval? - but see next section);
- a newspaper report published in March 2012 reports the 7th store will be in Milngavie (Glasgow area), but it also mentions that the planning approvals for both the Stirling and Helensburgh stores (5th and 6th) were approved a month earlier and that both will open early in 2013, whilst it is hoped that the Milngavie store will open before 2014.

So that's the first seven more or less sorted out, with places such as Ayrshire and Perthshire being mentioned as on their 'hit list' amongst others. Hopefully, Highland Region will not miss out completely!

Now for a little light relief, I just came across this Daily Mash article dating from November 2011, which throws its own characteristically acerbic/humorous eyes over the issue of Waitrose in Scotland - quite funny really!