We Set Up a Delivery Network from One Day to the Next

“My father, Yosi, worked as a travelling salesman for a large homeware marketing company. About ten years ago, he came off the road and purchased the store from a friend of his.

The store has been going for over 30 years, and is renowned throughout

Bnei Brak. We sell all kinds of homeware— from welcome mats to outdoor plastic storage units to kitchen utensils— at all different price ranges. At the start of the year, I was in South America on my post- army trip when I received a call from my dad, who said “I’ve found a good space near the Coca- Cola factory for a second store— come back to

Israel”. I came back to Israel very soon after, and together with my younger brother, we started to prepare the store for a pre- Passover opening— the peak time of the year for homeware sales— and then the coronavirus struck and we stopped everything.

“During the first lockdown, we were allowed to come to the store in Bnei

Brak, but only to coordinate a delivery network for customers who needed items and equipment for the holiday. It wasn’t easy, but we found creative ways to set up a delivery network from one day to the next. At the same time, we invested in an ad in a key local newspaper advertising our holiday products.

In hindsight, these measures gave us strength and oxygen in a period where regular work was running dry.

“In early May, we went back to work, and also brought our two experienced staff members back from furlough. Our revenue isn’t as high as it was previously, but that is true of everywhere in Bnei Brak. Less money is being donated to the yeshivas and the bochurs studying in them, and that has a knock- on effect. It’s a cycle where one thing depends on another. Rabbi Akiva St used to be full of life, now there’s almost no traffic along it. The whole industry is also having supply issues, because imports, especially from China, have come to an almost complete halt. There are products that I have been waiting to receive since before Passover and that are yet to arrive.”

The writer is the manager of the “Home Place” homeware stores Sokolov 4, Bnei Brak. Tel: 054- 6287516