There are some wonderful and thoughtful responses here that I have found most enlightening, and I would like to thank everyone, especially the OP, for a great read!

I'm reminded of my first set of bagpipes that my parents purchased for me at just such a "tat shop". It was a really fine gesture on their part, and I was very grateful, but, as it turns out, the pipes weren't Scottish at all - they were made in Pakistan and were entirely unplayable! I was very disappointed, especially considering that the money spent would have been a decent part of a real set of Highland pipes. As is the case with most tourist shops, by the time this problem was discovered, we were far away and unable to contact the seller or return the item.

And that's the problem with most of the "touristy" shops that I've seen; they purport to be vendors of traditional Scottish items but are, in fact, shamelessly passing on cheap replicas to those who don't know any better. It's a good thing that I am more persistent than most people, otherwise I think the bad experience with the unplayable pipes may have put me off my Scottish heritage completely.