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Store puts a Scottish tint on town


It's the Celtic connection that draws customers to the Scottish Country Shop, a fixture at 3568 S.E. Powell Blvd. since 1991.

Its display area brims with everything from books about Scotland to bagpipes, jewelry, kilts and food. The shop usually stocks ties and scarves in more than 450 tartans, and can special order a wool plaid fabric from Scotland to make a kilt.

'Scots, Irish, Welsh, English Ñall come into the shop on a regular basis,' says Jeanie Setterberg, a keen genealogist who helps customers track their clan linkage.

She says there's a seasonal bent to some sales. This time of year, when there's a round of traditional dinners to honor the Jan. 25 birthday of Scottish poet Robert Burns, haggis is selling briskly.About 600 pounds in all will be served at various celebrations, which properly open with Burns' 'Address to a Haggis,' a stirring poem that ends with 'But, if ye wish her gratefu prayer, Gie her a Haggis!'

Owners Rick and Debe McCaul, who bought the shop last year, are members of the Portland Police Highland Guard Pipe Band. Resident bagpipe expert Rob Barrick works Mondays. 'He's been playing since he was 8; there's nothing he has not done and can't do with a pipe,' Setterberg says.

Ñ Jeanie Senior