‘EVERY DAY IS REALLY TOUGH’
Traders reveal impact of pandemic as more shops close in town centre
THE coronavirus pandemic has led to one of the toughest times in history for UK traders. With local lockdowns in force and online shopping on the rise, it’s not uncommon to see closed shops in our town centres.
In Neath, it’s impossible not to notice a number of empty shops and to-let signs as you gaze upwards.
The latest figures from business representative, Neath Inspired Business Improvement District (BID), showed that 46 out of 401 Neath businesses surveyed were vacant in November 2019. This meant the town had a 11.3% vacancy rate, lower than the Welsh average of 13.4%.
Since lockdown, some businesses have moved away from the town centre such as Game, formerly on Green Street, and Cake Academy Wales, formerly on Angel Street. Others like Nettie Betti’s coffee shop have closed for good.
A number of traders said they have struggled to keep their businesses afloat since lockdown, claiming the streets are quieter than ever. However, others said trade had improved in recent months.
Hannah Webber, 26, who works at The Edge Menswear, said the shop is one of those that has unfortunately struggled since lockdown.
“Every day is really tough to be honest. We’ve been relying on loans, we’ve had a loan and a grant, and if we didn’t have that we’d have closed. It’s good that we got the loan, but we have to pay it back every month and we need regular customers to be able to do that,” she said.
“We got broken into in July, they took over one thousand pounds of stock and we had to pay for that ourselves.
“These days we get 10 to 15 customers a day, whereas before we’d get 40 odd – it’s a very busy shop in Neath, it’s the only men’s shop around here. We just don’t know what’s going to happen next.”
Hoover and washing machine repair shop Brown’s of Neath has been in the town since 1967.
Owner Andrew Brown said he had seen fewer in-shop customers since lockdown.
The 55-year-old explained: “At the moment it has gone quiet, people are not out and about and household calls have gone quiet. People are scared and nervous, I’m sure.
“It’s gone way down, footfall has, and trade has really for all businesses in town and around the area.
“It’s affected us for the footfall in the shop, but still we are getting calls out for doing washing machine repairs, tumble dryers – that’s down a bit, it’s not as good as it used to be.”
Gossip Cafe in Queen Street is another well-established local business that has been running for the past 11 years. Like The Edge Menswear, the cafe’s owner Sylvia Kelly said times were tough and that it could see her having to lay staff off.
The 72-year-old said: “We’re suffering. I can understand why a lot of people don’t come out with cases rising again. People are afraid.
“In this lockdown, I don’t think people know what they’re supposed to be doing.
“We’re open, with hardly any customers coming in. If it gets any worse, I will have to lay off one of my staff and I don’t like doing that.
“We tried to do takeaway, but the cars can’t come in the street if they did have an order. It works for other people, if you can get in the premises.”
Shop worker Jackie Millett at David Michael trading under DS Morgan jewellers said Queen Street, where they are based, seemed a lot quieter than usual.
“It’s pretty quiet, especially this street, it’s got quieter since lockdown. You get good days and bad days, but a lot of people are scared to come out, especially the older generation,” said the 52-year-old.
“It’s a long day when you’re in here and it’s quiet. It’s frightening and scary times, especially for shop traders, people would rather buy online.
“Lots of shops here are closed by 3pm. At the moment, we’re staying open 9am to 5pm to see how it goes. We’re hoping with Christmas trade things will start picking up and that staying open a little longer will draw them in.”
It wasn’t just regular traders in the town centre who said they had been struggling. Norma Whitefoot, 67, owner of Siop Elusen Charity Shop on Green Street, said since March, sales had been down to an all-time low.
“Footfall has dropped. We would usually be getting busier at this time of year with winter coming,” she explained.
“We’re down 70% at least. We have a sale on, and we’re just keeping that going, but we’re mostly selling books.
“We are taking stock in by appointment only. It has to go into a stock room for 72 hours before it can be displayed.
“There are no walk-in drop-offs, which is bad, we get lots of donations and people coming into the shop that way. It’s just not the same.
“It’s been like this since the end of March and I’ve never ever known it so quiet.”
However, despite the struggles faced by many, there is hope.
A recent survey carried out by Neath Inspire BID asked 27 national stores and 47 local businesses in the town centre how they were performing and what they needed to thrive.
According to the results, 21 businesses said trade was improving, 33 said trade was the same and 18 said trade was deteriorating.
It is also hoped that the new leisure centre being built on Water Street will attract more people to the town and regenerate the area.
One trader who said business had been booming despite lockdown is Victoria Jackson who owns Olivia’s Beauty Parlour with her sister.
The 30-year-old said: “We’re one of the lucky ones. We’ve got a big clientele anyway and regulars, so we’ve been busy since we’ve opened.
“At the minute until anything else comes into place, we’re going to hopefully stay busy.
“I’m not personally shopping as much as I normally would, but town is busy. I think people want to stay in their town centres. Obviously they can’t, because of lockdown, go anywhere else. I think in Neath, we’re very lucky, we’ve got lots of things here and people are staying in town.”
A spokesman from Neath Inspire BID said it had helped many businesses restart since they shut during lockdown in March, and is looking at more ways of bringing people into the town centre.
“Like all other towns Neath is experiencing lower footfall than the same time a year ago, the recently announced Welsh Government further Covid-19 restrictions have not helped, just when trade and footfall was showing signs of a recovery,” said the spokesman.
“All businesses in Neath town centre are adhering to the social distancing measures required to be Covid19 secure and are open to welcome their loyal local shoppers.”
Neath Inspired BID helped many businesses restart after the lockdown with Business Kickstart Packs containing a Covid-19 secure notice, floor vinyls and hand sanitisers. You can see these in more than 150 shops and businesses in town.
“This year Neath Inspired has supported businesses by deciding not to collect the BID levy from businesses, the board of directors are all Neath business people and felt it would be unfair to collect, as businesses were closed down for such a long period and Neath Inspired could not support events like the Music Festival, Food and Drink Festival and Real Ale and Cider Festival as these events were not allowed. This decision is exceptional in Wales, with other BIDs collecting their levies.”
Neath Inspire BID is working with the town council to provide Christmas lights later in the year to make sure Neath is “warm and welcoming to local people” shopping and doing business in town.
“[We] will also be promoting the healthy number of click and collect stores, 12 in all, that attract people into Neath to collect items and while in town can use other businesses at the same time,” added the spokesman.
“The survey [gave] some interesting results with ‘more events’ being one of the top requests. Neath Inspired is going to re-ballot next year and if successful will definitely be organising many more events to bring shoppers in and create an attractive ambience throughout the year.”