Shoppers buy up vouchers to keep cafes, salons afloat
Taranaki residents have been supporting their local businesses through the lockdown period to the tune of more than $78,000.
Through an initiative called Save Our Small Business, known as SOS Business, people have been buying vouchers for their favourite cafes and services to spend when they reopen.
There are 139 Taranaki businesses listed on SOS Business and 25 have made more than $1000 through vouchers.
The top-performing business is the Zanadoo Hairdezine salon in New Plymouth, which so far has received more than $3000 in voucher sales.
‘‘It’s pretty amazing,’’ SOS Business founder David Downs said. ‘‘In regional New Zealand people really love their local cafe or hairdresser and feel quite a personal connection to it.’’
Not only was the money helpful for businesses, Downs
said, but owners had also loved getting messages of support from their clients when buying the vouchers.
‘‘It’s kind of creating this connection between people which I love. When we kicked off it was all cafes and restaurants but now we’ve got hairdressers and tattoo artists and massage therapists and it’s just really cool.’’
The country moved to alert level three at 11.59pm on April 27, meaning businesses were allowed to open if they could offer contactless shopping options.
Cashing in SOS vouchers depends on when a business reopens and their payment is set up. This can be checked on the SOS Business website.
Zanadoo Hairdezine owner Lorraine Elstone said it was a nice surprise. ‘‘It’s very kind what David and everyone involved in the website has done – I take my hat off to them. Also a big shoutout for the awesome support from our clients – we appreciate it very much and couldn’t do it without them.’’
Elstone said lockdown had been a stressful time, and as they cannot reopen until level two they are currently rescheduling clients for the third time.
The only income she is getting is from the vouchers and from retail product sales. This has helped to pay bills such as power, eftpos, and wages that the government subsidy didn’t cover.
‘‘I have had clients ring me to see if they could just give me a cash donation. It’s very humbling the clients want to help – they’re not getting money either.
‘‘They might be in similar situations but people are still finding ways of supporting us.’’
‘‘It’s very humbling the clients want to help – they’re not getting money either.’’
Lorraine Elstone
Zanadoo Hairdezine owner