Taste of Nelson
The evolving Covid conditions we have been living with means change has been happening at very short notice. Change, particularly for lockdowns, at very short notice, has been devastating for many businesses during the Covid pandemic and that is the main thing every business and community organisation has found difficulty managing.
I caught up with a few owners last week to see if things changed when restrictions eased with the traffic light system moving from red or orange and, without exception, they said they had noticed an immediate increase in people out and about.
Rhys Odey from Lambretta’s said he had noticed an immediate increase in customers.
‘‘Almost from the hour the change to orange was announced we saw more people in the city and an increase in spending. It hasn’t been a massive increase for us, but it is certainly noticeable.’’
He says one of the hardest challenges has been finding staff. ‘‘Anyone with any experience can get work in hospitality at the moment’’.
When I spoke with him on Saturday he told me people were heading to Kaiteriteri, Golden Bay and other holiday spots to enjoy the outstanding Easter weather so urban hospitality businesses weren’t seeing a lot of impact from people going out again just yet.
Just across the road from Lambretta’s, John Esposito told me that things are going well for Salvito’s Pizzas, ‘‘in fact we have just had our 100th review on Google and every one of those has been five stars.
‘‘We think that’s a pretty special achievement for any business in the current environment. Being good at what we do is a really important part of our success.’’
The General Grocery Store in St Vincent St has become one of my regular shopping spots.
You may remember that the day my column about them was published they had a burst waterpipe that caused so much damage they were closed for three weeks.
Co-owner Tony Mihaka-Rodda says they had to replace some walls and remove refrigerators and freezers so they could dry everything properly.
‘‘It was really frustrating for us because we had so many people turn up to check out what we’re doing and all they found was a ‘closed due to flooding sign’ but we tried to turn it into a positive and took the opportunity to restructure the store a little.’’