Gibson’s Butchers

This is a local family butchers which has a lot of loyal customers. The butchers, in the same way as corner shops, came under a lot of pressure when big chain supermarkets started popping up. Several have closed but butchers have always been great with customer service. I think it comes from a time when there were butchers all over the place. Customer service and getting to know the customers by name became a huge part of getting as many locals in through the door as possible. A lot of people will still go the butchers, even if it’s only to pick up items that they didn’t get at the supermarket. In some cases there are products that butchers can still do a bit cheaper than the supermarket.
Still, there are long running family traditions of which butchers people will get their turkey and meats in at Christmas. If you go up as far as Gibson’s, or to Andersonstown Meats (see my review), on the morning of Christmas Eve (which I’m sure a lot of you will never have any cause to do), you’ll see what I mean. The butchers open very early on Christmas Eve (as do most barbers, by the way) and on passing Gibson’s at about 7:45 a.m. that day, you’ll see a queue that makes you think that there’s an ATM that’s accidentally giving out too much money. The butchers will be full of customers and the queue runs outside the shop, along the front of the premises next to, right along a wall onto the road. There’d be some 30 people in that queue (most having pre-​ordered their turkeys), and that’s at 7:45a.m. And there aren’t many times that day when the queues get any smaller.