World Cup
“I saw a photo of the shop online and it was immediately top of my side-quest list.”
June 17, 2026 | 1:00 PM
1 minute to read
Seemingly all Boston bars, breweries, and liquor stores are seeing an upswing in business with the Tartan Army in town.
But one Boston packie is attracting Scottish visitors for another reason as well.
Jobi Liquors “has been the topic of much hilarity with the Scots,” explained a Daily Record reporter at the beginning of a video posted to the Scottish tabloid’s Facebook page, which has garnered more than 1 million views.
“Yes it has,” the store’s owner, Jimmy Ryan, replied with a laugh. “Outside and inside. Yes sir.”
“One of the guys goes, ‘You’ll never see a Jobi Liquors in Scotland,” he added later.
To the uninitiated — and much to Ryan’s initial surprise — Jobi (or more commonly “Jobby” or “Jobbie”) is slang for, well, “poop” in Scotland.
So how many Scots have taken note and swung by the Cambridge Street shop?
“Thousands. Every day, there’s groups” Ryan, 65, said. “And at night, they’re in here lifting up their kilts, and they’re having a good old time.”
“I saw a photo of the shop online and it was immediately top of my side-quest list,” one 63-year-old Scottish fan told the newspaper.
The actual meaning behind the liquor store’s name is far more innocent.
“My mum’s name is Joan, my father’s name is Billy, J-O-B-I,” Ryan explained.
And to be fair, the overall spectacle shouldn’t be a foreign concept to Bostonians.
“Don’t forget Bunghole Liquors in Salem,” one Facebook commenter noted.
John Waller
John Waller is a deputy editor overseeing news coverage on Boston.com. He is a Lexington native and Colby College graduate.
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