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Business brings a tartan touch as 'Tiffany's of Scottish world'

By ELIZABETH BETTENDORF
Published September 22, 2006

Stephen Peter knew he has in love with Scotland the first time he went to visit as a child.

"I really connected with the land, enjoyed the people and felt like I was home," he recalls.

Now in his 50s, the Brandon businessman spends several months a year in Scotland, where he is restoring a charming, 1800s stone cottage once built for an employee on a baron's estate.

Peter and his wife, Ruth, own Celtic Highroads, a company devoted to selling high-end Scottish goods, much of it for the home.

But don't look for it in a mall.

The Peters are well-known for their showroom on wheels, a 30-foot trailer complete with tartan carpets, electric fireplace and lighted wood cabinets filled with silver Celtic frames, glass Celtic crosses, loving cups, chess sets and golf prints. They also sell beautiful kilts and related kilt attire, walking sticks, flags, books, DVDs, and music.

They also sell from their Web site www.celtichighroads.com.

"I decided against a brick and mortar store because we wouldn't be tied into a long-term lease - a lot of new businesses fail because of cost control," he says.

Plus, Peter adds, he and Ruth are on their own schedule, though not tied to a particular location."

If someone asks to see his Scottish showroom, he can have it ready in 30 minutes. (They keep it at a storage facility 1 mile from their home in the Providence Lakes area.)

Peter, who is of Scottish descent, owns three kilts - for day dress, evening dress and hunting. He also hopes to build the kilt-side of the business, a once-, maybe twice-in-a-lifetime investment for his typical customer.

"Getting yourself (decked) out from head to toe with a jacket and kilt can cost as much as $1,500," he says. "It isn't cheap, but it can last a lifetime and be handed down."

At the Fox & Hounds Irish Pub on State Road 60 in Brandon, he's known as "Scottish Steve."

And at Celtic Festivals and Highland Games around Florida, he's known as the Scottish guy who somehow pulls his trailer with a red Mini Cooper.

At least that's how it looks.

He always parks the Mini Cooper in front of the trailer as a conversation piece that always reels in new customers.

"I really pull it with a beast of a Suburban," he confesses. "The Mini Cooper actually rides in the back of the trailer."

The couple opened their shop on wheels a few years ago after Peter's father died. Peter says he wanted to dabble in something other than the family's longtime health care management business.

They stay in Brandon because they like their suburban lakefront home, like the area and are near their grown son and grandchildren.

Peter is renovating the cottage in Scotland (a long-term lease, which he says is easier for Americans) to reflect the look of Glasgow architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh. He has done the same in his Brandon home, particularly with a carved railing he added to the stairway.

Because they bought the local home "way back when for what is now very little money," Peter explains, "I don't have any problem updating. It gives me a chance to put some more Scottishness into the house."

His goal with his rolling Scot shop "is to be the Tiffany's of the Scottish world," he says.

As fall approaches, the Peters are again gearing up for Celtic festival season, when they follow the circuit around the state.

Though he enjoys it, he says his heart is always across the Atlantic, in the little town of Lanark, Scotland, near Edinburgh and Glasgow.

That's where his stone cottage awaits.

And when he gets there, he says, he will feel like he's really home.

[Last modified September 20, 2006, 12:46:03]