Isbister Brothers was founded by brothers Alfred and John Isbister in 1929. Alfred began working at the age of 15 for a Finstown merchant supplying groceries around the island with a horse and van. After leaving school, John went to Glasgow and was employed in the Barclaycurl Shipyard, Scotstown before moving back to Orkney during the depression years and working for several different merchants.

For the first year of business, the shop was based at Gyron (not far from the existing building) and the building which is still in use today was built by the brothers the following year, by hand, using sand and gravel from Skaill beach.

As a family-run business, it has been passed down and run through the generations that followed.