The stark reality facing the city’s brilliant traders after lockdown
BUSINESSES BATTLING FOR SURVIVAL IN THE MIDST OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC
THE shopkeepers of Hull city centre e are a resilient bunch.
In recent years alone they have e battled months of orange barriers, , countless street drink and drugtakers, the surge in online shopping and are now battling for survival l in the midst of the coronavirus s pandemic.
The numbers of empty shop units on the city’s streets has, unsurprisingly, headed in an n upwards trajectory in recent months s as businesses cut their losses or r admit defeat amid the crisis.
While some of the bigger names s will be more resilient to the drastic c changes we have all experienced, , the men and women who rely on boots on the ground have been in for a shock.
It is a case of hanging on in there for some, but for others, the fight for survival rests on a knife edge.
“I’m not doing well at all” – that’s the stark admission by one of the most familiar faces in the Old Town’s Trinity Market.
Anna Beaumont sells her innovative pizza cones near the entrance to the covered venue, but has been left questioning her future.
With Covid-19 social distancing measures remaining in place – and expected to be going nowhere until next year – she admits to being on the verge of a monumental decision.
“It is awful. It has been the worst week. Everyone has gone back to school now as well. Since we have been back it has not been great,” she said.
“Me, personally, I’m not doing well at all.
“When
June, July, we have August and
September, it pays f for th the rest t of f th the months.
“These months we do events that pay for the rest of the year. We have lost all of them.
“There’s no passing trade. People know where they are going and that is it.
“If we don’t start picking up soon, we’ll have three months left. It is in people’s hands. Unless people use independent businesses, we’re nothing.”
Anna says she has been hampered by businesses in and around the Old Town not allowing staff to return and by the cancellation of major events, such as Hull Street Food Nights. Having had supplier issues until lockdown started, her trademark pizza cones are back on the menu, but she is now left with a significant reduction in people wanting to snap them up.
“Do you know how many orders I took today? Seven. wasn’t even worth
It getting tti out t of f b bed,” d” she h admitted. d itt d
“It’s scary, but I’ll keep fighting until the dawn breaks and keep going.
“On a Saturday we would usually take the most money but we didn’t even take half or a quarter of what would normally be taken.
“The summer holidays through August were like normal days out of the holidays.”
She has also had to let most of her staff go and is predominantly relying on her own determination and hard graft to see her through.
However, she is also set to launch Cone Queen Bakery from elsewhere in the city so she can produce and sell her cones and sweet treats should another lockdown come into force.
Across town and Mark Harris, of Brookes Menswear, says he is “just cracking on” as footfall continues to be slower than before the pandemic.
He admits the rise in empty shop units doesn’t help the appeal of a trip into the city centre, but says he is grateful for having his regulars.
“The firm has been in town for 40 years. It is a family-run business.
“It speaks for itself that we are still here,” Mark said.
Troy Eyaad says one of his shops is having to support the other as a result of reduced footfall
“There are a lot more empty units compared to what there was before.
“It doesn’t make it appealing with empty units, but we’ve got a good following. People will come into Brookes regardless.
“It has just been indifferent at the minute. It is not brilliant at the moment, but it’s not good and it’s not bad.
“We’re not rocking and rolling. We are just cracking on.”
One issue the King Edward Street store has found coming out of lockdown is a shortage of stock filtering through from suppliers, although it is hoped it can be rectified.
Elsewhere, Troy Eyaad runs two neighbouring shops in Prospect Street, which have experienced very different success rates since the end of lockdown.
Troy is at the helm of House of Ink and has found tremendous success with his tattoo business – especially given the backlog of sittings he returned to when tattoo studios reopened in July.
However, his business decision to launch a convenience store next door, which coincided with the week of lockdown in March, has been a little more troubling. troubling
“It’s struggling. The offices aren’t coming back. It is like a ghost town around me.
“The situation is we are not making money from it. I’m thinking about alternatives, like turning it into a food bank or something else.
“The tattoo shop is covering the newsagents. It is paying the expenses of the newsagents.”
He is still to make a decision on the future of the shop.
At last count in August, Hull city centre had 19 more empty shop units compared with six months previsouly.
While areas including Whitefriargate and King Edward Street had avoided a further loss, Jameson Street and Prosepct Street were among the major streets that had lost out. Ann Summers and William Hill were among those to depart.
While the economic climate shows no signs of getting easier for businesses over the winter months, with coronavirus seemingly here to stay in the short term, retailers will be doing all they can to attract punters and keep them in business.
But, as we have seen this year so far, it promises to be an uphill task.
If we don’t start picking up soon, we’ll have three months left. It is in people’s hands
Anna Beaumont