Post-lockdown Thursday delivers shopping rush
People came out in force throughout Baw Baw Shire on post-lockdown Thursday last week.
The lockdown, other than for declared exempt reasons, restricted most people to their homes, kept children from school and caused many businesses to close for five days.
From early Thursday morning, car and foot traffic in Warragul and Drouin looked more like a Christmas rush.
Venues such as restaurants, hotels and clubs that were closed during the lockdown, other than if they decided to offer takeaway meals, were gearing for a “catch up” in clientele while there was solid trading in retail stores and cafes.
Susie Warencia, who has operated Suzy’s Fine Jewellery in Smith St, Warragul for 30 years, looked at both the “ups” and “downs” of the latest lockdown that forced her to close the shop for five days after last Friday week’s trading.
Saturday morning was the biggest loss, she said, expecting that the day before Valentine’s Day “would have been huge” if her business was able to open.
Men are last minute shoppers anyway and most work during the week and we are lucky, unlike many businesses, that we don’t deal in perishable goods, she said.
The jewellery shop had also closed for threeand-a-half weeks last year and at other times operated at reduced hours due to lockdowns and restrictions on movements.
But Ms Warencia said Christmas trade was good and believed some of that was because local people were reluctant to go out of town to large shopping centres.
Hairdressing salons had been heavily affected by being forced to close at periods last year and the recent five-day lockdown, but those in Warragul’s main shopping centre looked to be doing plenty of catch-up on Thursday.
Vanessa McLean, owner of Finess Hair in Palmerston St, was one of them.
The salon was closed for five weeks last year and again for the recent five-day period.
With rent and some other outgoings still needing to be met she said “the JobKeeper payments had been a lifesaver”.
Streatside Café Eatery that opened for business in William St, Warragul, only last September during “the second wave” of restrictions was doing a brisk mid-morning trade on Thursday.
Proprietor Angelo Raso and his seven staff had plenty of customers inside the shop and seated at outdoor tables.
But he said it was a far cry from earlier in the week when he remained open only for takeaways.
He said the car park in William St had “about three cars in it on Monday but today (Thursday) it has been packed since shops opened”.
Opening a new business during a pandemic would be a tough ask in itself but it was even more difficult for Mr Raso who was forced to delay his planned opening for a number of months due to kitchen equipment he’d ordered from overseas being tied up on docks due to COVID.
Liam Dickson of Dickson’s Mensland clothing store in Smith St said business was going “gang busters” on Thursday after closing for the five days.
He said the biggest downside for the business over the past year of COVID was the restriction on numbers of people allowed to attend weddings and funerals and cancellation of debutant balls, both in effects on sales of clothing for the occasions and rental of formal wear. The travel industry is still doing things tough. John Daniels of Travel Plus in Warragul said it had spent most of last year organising refunds and credits for people that had booked holidays that were cancelled.
For many it involved dealing with multiple aspects for individual packages such as flights, accommodation and tours at destinations.
Inquiries are starting to pick up now, Mr Daniels said, but overseas travel remained difficult with people requiring a permit to leave and return, domestically doubts remain in people’s minds about possible further state border closures and accommodation in popular regional Victoria centres is heavily booked.
Dr David Trumpy arrived in Warragul in 1891 and purchased a practice from Dr Cobb in Warragul, he died in 1942.
He also built Cooinda Hospital at 63 Victoria Street in Warragul about 1911. His younger son, Oswald, was born December 30, 1897 who followed on at 26 years of age into his father's practice.
His reputation for work often up to 16 hours a day, was matched by his kindly manner. He sudden death at 48 was devastating to his patients in Warragul and district.
A public funeral saw shops and offices close, his cortege moved through several streets on its way to the cemetery. The rear entry to his practice, home and hospital was a lane way now named Trumpy Lane.
Two daughters attended school, Sion College which also bordered on the same lane way. My personal contact with Dr Trumpy occurred nearly 82 years ago at my birth.
I think Trumpy Lane deserves its place in Warragul history. For anyone looking for more information on the Trumpy Family History check West Gippsland Pioneers and Settlers Pre 1900.
John Gibbons - Labertouche
Do your homework
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isnt Trumpy Lane named after an eminent local doctor of the time.
Why don’t people do their home work before they write garbage letters like that
Biden Lane, I don’t think so. Wokism at its best again.
Geoff Lee, Longwarry the Lord looked down on the children of man he found that ‘they are all gone aside’ and that 'they are all together become filthy’. So it seems I am not alone.
More seriously and substantially, however, Bruce Miskin makes the fundamental error of ‘begging the question’. His assumption is that because it is in the Bible we must accept it and can use it as a premise for further argument.
However we should first ask whether and why we should accept that the Bible has any authority or validity at all.
While Christians might take this as self-evident, there are billions of people in the world who have a different opinion.
These include not only those who subscribe to no religious faith or text, but also the multitudes who place their faith in other beliefs and rely on other books or documents for their guidance and inspiration.
It seems arrogant in the extreme for anyone or any group to claim that they alone know the truth, and that all those other billions are ignorant and misguided.
To claim that because something is in the
Bible we should rely on it, is no more logical than saying that because I read it in Wikipedia I must believe it. The source itself must be questioned first.
Alan Bright, Neerim South
Great shows
How privileged we are to have shows scheduled at the West Gippsland Arts centre that are of such high calibre.
And what an amazing and entertaining talent to star the year with Rachel Becks’ performance on Friday.
As if her talent wasn’t enough, the anecdotes she told of having to kiss High Jackman for eight performances a week and the date with Russell Crowe were amusing and entertaining.
Don’t miss out people. Support our local venue.
Seat numbers are reduced and masks are mandatory at present but that’s a small price to pay. Well done Rob and the team at WGAC.
Helen Ryan, Warragul