Small town Taranaki feels Covid-19 shock
With an uncertain future ahead as the nation deals with the fallout from coronavirus, Deena Coster reports on how small town Taranaki is coping.
Losing out on $20,000 a week in trade during the coronavirus lockdown has been the stark reality for Waitara business owner Paul Gundesen.
There’s no shying away from the numbers, and the fact it knocked his Bin Inn wholefood and specialty store for six.
But Gundesen is confident the store won’t sink.
Deemed non-essential, the doors of the main street shop have been shuttered since March 25.
Gundesen says he accepted the rationale behind the need for the nation to go into lockdown, in a bid to stop the spread of the virus, which has killed more than 180,000 people across the world, including 19 in New Zealand.
‘‘I understand why we had to be shut.’’
But the move, like for many other businesses in the same boat, had an immediate, and frightening impact.
‘‘Our income went to zero,’’ Gundesen says.
The economic fallout due to the fight against coronavirus is being widely felt around the country.
In Taranaki, a recent report commissioned by Venture Taranaki and the New Plymouth District Council, painted a gloomy picture for the region’s economy, with GDP forecast to take a hit and an estimated 5500 jobs lost in the coming year.
The financial pain has already resulted in the release of a series of Government packages designed to offer support to keep businesses afloat and people in work.
One – the wage subsidy scheme – has been a lifeline for Bin Inn staff.
Gundesen says it partly saved the business, as had its recent ability to move to online sales and home deliveries.
Under level 3, which the country dropped down into at 11:59pm on Monday, the doors to the store have reopened with a click and collect scheme, as well as home deliveries to people living in Waitara.
‘‘I think we will recover. It’s really getting the people now to come in and support us.’’
The ‘shop local’ cry has always been an important one but it has taken on more resonance, with the future of small to medium businesses under threat across the country.
Getting the tills ringing again will help address the main concern recently highlighted by a Venture Taranaki survey which considered the impacts of Covid-19.
Of the 144 respondents to the questionnaire, which applied to the period between April 4 and 20, 90 per cent said the lack of revenue was the biggest worry. Cashflow difficulties ranked second, on 55 per cent, while ongoing financial viability also featured highly, on 44 per cent.
Of those who responded, with the highest proportion coming from the accommodation and hospitality sector, 70 per cent were either extremely concerned or very concerned about the impact Covid19 would have on their business.
Waitara Alive community development advisor Vicky Dombroski has been working with some of the town’s smaller businesses to see if they can open under the conditions of the level 3 alert system.
She says there were mixed fortunes for the town’s traders.
‘‘Some of those will pull through by the skin of their teeth,’’ she says. Others might not be so lucky. ‘‘Shop local is going to be the call I think, even when you move to level 2 and beyond.’’
Dombroski says while there will no doubt be short to medium term economic pain, there is also a longer term opportunity for the town to redefine its financial future.
‘‘We can make this happen for us – something that works for Waitara by Waitara – that tino rangatiratanga concept.’’
One opportunity she firmly believes in is the creation of a circular economy (one based on the continual use of resources and eliminating waste) – where the town creates and runs its own industry.
Dombroski sees Waitara’s future rooted in food and fibre. She believes it could become the ‘‘food
‘‘Shop local is going to be the call I think, even when you move to level 2 and beyond.’’ Vicky Dombroski
Waitara Alive community development advisor
bowl’’ of the region, harnessing the ideal growing conditions which exist there.
‘‘All those natural resources are still here.’’
But how to get there, or make the most of the opportunities which Covid-19 may present, is still something yet to be grappled with.
Richard Jordan, New Plymouth’s deputy mayor and owner of Fun Ho! National Toy Museum in Inglewood, says he has heard the rhetoric around the idea to do things differently, but is yet to see a plan or strategy on how it might happen. One thing is certain though, he says. ‘‘It will be a different kind of normal.’’
Jordan says it will likely take years to recover from the negative impacts caused by coronavirus and Inglewood was not immune to its forces.
Most of the shops in the town are owner-operated and so far, he has not heard of any business closures on the horizon.
He agrees the wage subsidy has been the ‘‘saving grace’’ for many in the interim.
‘‘That’s given breathing space.’’ But it is no cure-all either, Jordan says, as businesses that already had ‘‘little fat in the system’’ had other costs to contend with as well.
During the lockdown, he says he has walked more streets in Inglewood in the past month than he had for a very long time and the positivity and friendliness he encounters while doing so gives him hope.
‘‘That will be a major part as we move forward into what will be a very hard winter.’’
Further south in Manaia, Four Square owner Mike King was able to stay open during the level 4 lockdown.
But it has not necessarily been business as usual.
There has been a reduction in services on offer at the store, including Lotto sales, as well as a supply shortage of some items, like flour and yeast.
Delays in getting these products onto shop shelves could continue in the coming months too.
King says he has seen other businesses around them close during the lockdown, so is looking forward to the time they will be able to reopen.
While being able to trade was an obvious economic advantage, working during the coronavirus lockdown has been a stressful time for King and his staff.
‘‘We have been put in a situation where we have all been at high risk from the virus.’’
However, he believes the residents of Manaia are resilient and motivated to get back on their feet but the Government also needed to keep coming to the party to help businesses across the board.
‘‘They [businesses] deserve that respect due to the commitment they needed to make by closing their doors.’’
Taranaki Coastal community board member Bonita Bigham, who also lives in Manaia, agrees with King’s sentiment about the town’s ability to bounce back.
‘‘Manaia people tend to come together a bit more in these crises.’’
The last time she saw this happen was when the town faced the possible closure of Yarrows, but it rallied through, she says.
While business is one factor, Bigham has also noticed how hard the social isolation has been on a small town like Manaia.
It is bumping into each other during a trip to the shops or a chin wag while waiting for the fish and chip order which have stopped those important everyday interactions which keep people connected, she says.
However, she is aware neighbours have been checking on each other and other people going out of their way to do what they can to help – much of which happens under the radar.
‘‘We’re a pretty tight bunch and that’s what I think will see us through.’’