Covid 19: Nervous wait for Nelson businesses under level 4 lockdown

Tuesday, 24 August 2021

Nelson’s city centre was full of empty businesses after the Government’s alert level 4 restrictions were put in place a week ago.

Businesses around Nelson are hoping for a return to some kind of normality after dealing with a week of alert level 4 conditions.

Uniquely Nelson manager Simon Duffy said it would be a nervous wait over the next few days.

After the strict lockdown was extended by three days from Tuesday night, many businesses will have to wait until the weekend before they have any chance of reopening.

“I think the hope is that we would go back to level 3 on Friday, and that would help get us back to some normality – if there’s any more level 3 then that nervousness starts to creep back,” Duffy said.

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Uniquely Nelson manager Simon Duffy said Nelson businesses were growing nervous as the lockdown extended beyond the week-long mark.

Duffy said while lockdowns were no longer unknown territory, the question was how long businesses were able to handle living with the disruption.

He said although the situation was tough for all businesses, hospitality was particularly vulnerable to the issues created by lockdown.

He said retail businesses had managed to more or less hold their ground over the past 18 months.

“With retail you can turn the lights out and lock it up, but with hospitality it’s a different situation altogether.

MP for Nelson Rachel Boyack said while it was a tough situation for businesses, there was government support available through the Wage Subsidy Scheme and the Resurgence Support Payment.

“The margins are different. And with hospitality you’ve got 1000s of dollars worth of food – there’s so much stock and the bills still come in.”

Hair, Heart, & Soul owner Michelle Longman is currently at home helping her children with their learning.

The hairdresser and salon owner said she has applied for the wage subsidy as well as the resurgence support payment.

“For me with my job I can't work from home, I can only contact clients.

“There's still my outgoing, I still have to pay myself, keep my family fed and my mortgage paid.'

Longman said customers had been “really good” regarding rescheduling appointments.

Last Wednesday she contacted clients scheduled for the rest of the week saying that she would be in touch to reschedule the bookings.

“Everyone replied telling me to take care, and that they hoped my family and I stayed well.

“Everyone understands.”

CrossFit Nelson co-owner Quinn Longman said that for the moment everything was going okay with his business.

“We make do with what we can.”

Longman had been doing Zoom calls with his athletes and doing workouts with gym members online, to try and keep them as motivated as possible about their fitness.

Longman said he and fellow owner Lorelle Puklowski are providing online programming and zoom classes everyday.

“The odd person has put their membership on hold, other than that we’re pretty lucky. We’re going through the process waiting to see how long it's going to be for.”

The gym can only open under Level 2.

Nelson MP Rachel Boyack acknowledged both the retail and hospitality sectors had been doing it tough over the past week, but said short sharp lockdowns had been shown to have better economic results in the long-term.

Boyack said the support provided to business by government gave some level of security for those trying to navigate through lockdown.

Boyack said along with the Wage Subsidy Scheme, applications were now available for the Resurgence Support Payment – which was aimed at supporting small to medium businesses with costs like rent or fixed costs during higher alert levels.

She also encouraged Nelsonians to get behind local businesses as soon as the alert level dropped.

“When we can and when it’s safe, I’d encourage people to get takeaways and meals from their favourite local restaurants to help support them.”

Duffy said Uniquely Nelson was also encouraging businesses to make use of their Buddy Up Business programme, which offered support for both business mentoring and wellbeing.

Duffy said there was a lot more pressure on businesses this year compared to 2020, as for many businesses their reserves were much tighter than they had been during the first lockdown.

“It’s a great model during these very trying times, as we can keep adding to it and expanding it depending on wants and needs.”