NEW MEMBER | Beinn

We are delighted to welcome Beinn Coffee & Bookshop to the Chamber network! 

In the heart of Dufftown, Beinn Coffee and Bookshop offers a welcoming space where coffee and books come together. 

Beinn Coffee and Bookshop is a dream come true for Sam Matthews, who, after falling in love with Dufftown during a holiday, decided to make this beautiful town his home. Moving to Dufftown from London five years ago, Sam and his partner Kelly were drawn to the area’s charm and, over time, saw a gap in the local market for an independent bookshop. The idea for Beinn was born out of that observation.

“I was visiting a lot of book shops and I thought ‘This is exactly the sort of business I’d want to run,’” Sam explains. “And if I wasn’t running it, it’s the sort of business I’d want to visit in Dufftown. No-one else was doing it, so I thought we’d give it a go.”

The name “Beinn” was inspired by Ben Rinnes, the mountain that towers over Dufftown. “We moved up here because we loved the hills and wanted to spend more time in them,” Sam shares. “My original idea for the name of the shop was Ben Rinnes Books, but that was too long for the sign. To locals, Ben Rinnes is just ‘The Beinn,’ and given how the whisky mountain towers over Dufftown, we decided Beinn was the perfect name for our coffee and bookshop.”

Inside, Beinn offers a carefully curated selection of around 2,000 books. Sam aimed to create a space where everyone could find something they enjoy, from fiction and non-fiction to poetry, biography, and fantasy. “We theoretically should have something for everyone,” Sam says. “Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, biography, fantasy, crime, you name it. We’ve got a little something for everyone.”

Read more here from Hidden Scotland