Surge of business as level 2 dawns in North
The Advocate checked out Kerikeri and Whanga¯ rei where customers were back
Northlanders have embraced the relative freedom of alert level 2 by flooding back to town centres and catching up on more than three weeks’ worth of shopping, errands and haircuts.
The day got off to a slow start in Kerikeri due to wet, blustery weather, but by mid-morning the town was almost back to its normal self with bumper-to-bumper traffic clogging the one-way system and parking spaces hard to find.
The only obvious change since August 17, when the lockdown was announced, was that at least 90 per cent of people on the street were wearing masks.
Some cafes opted not to open but there were queues outside Bunnings, Warehouse Stationery and the Spark phone shop. Hairdressers were especially busy as locals had their lockdown mops dealt to.
Denny Harden, of Kerikeri’s Chop Shop Barbers, said he had been fully booked since first thing in the morning.
He had previously used a walk-in system but switched to bookings yesterday to allow Covid contact tracing. Even so there was a line of young men waiting outside for haircuts. Harden said he was “very happy” to be back. Despite the three-week-plus closure he hadn’t been called on to fix any home hair disasters.
“We haven’t had anyone who’s tried to cut their own hair yet, but there’s been a few on the cusp of being overgrown.”
The past few weeks had been tough because he only took over the business three weeks before lockdown, which meant he didn’t qualify for the wage subsidy or the Government’s Resurgence Fund to help with fixed costs.
“So we’re cutting our little hearts out to make up for lost earnings,” he said.
The crowds on Kerikeri’s main street included Stella Bray, of O¯ manaia in South Hokianga, who was waiting to get her nails done at a busy salon as a 13th birthday treat.
Mum Tammie Dann said Stella’s actual birthday was on Monday but she held off with celebrating until yesterday so she could spoil her daughter when the shops were open. The kids had coped well during lockdown — “we still had internet so that kept them happy” — though the youngest had missed being able to visit playgrounds. “I enjoyed having my kids around me but I’m glad Stella is going back to school so I know she’ll be learning, they miss a lot when school’s closed.”
Meanwhile, in Whanga¯ rei, retailers were happy to be able to reopen under Delta level 2 restrictions.
Bargain hunters flocked back to Whanga¯rei Hospice Shop with retail manager Kathy McMillan delighted the store could reopen for its loyal customers. “It’s been done appropriately, with level 2 social distancing and wearing masks and it’s lovely to
So we’re cutting our little hearts out to make up for lost earnings. Denny Harden, Kerikeri’s Chop Shop Barbers
be back,” McMillan said. “All the customers have been fantastic and very responsive [to the new conditions]. Everybody wants to play their part and everybody is happy wearing their mask. We’ve had no problems with that at all.”
Several stores reported customer numbers were down on a normal weekday, but some put that down to people still working from home. They expected bigger crowds in coming days as more people returned to work.
Not every shop reopened in Whanga¯ rei’s CBD but plenty of people
were out and about in Cameron St Mall. Whanga¯rei’s City Safe staff reported the town centre was busy but there were no real issues.
Most people had masks on and all shop workers seen by the Advocate were masked up.
The roads in and out of the city were almost back to pre-lockdown levels as people went back to work and shoppers returned to the stores. But, in a sign everything was not yet quite back to normal there were plenty of parking spaces free in the CBD throughout the day. The new level 2 rules for businesses include compulsory QR code scanning or recording of contact details, mask use indoors or when physical distancing is not possible, and limits of 50 people at indoor venues and 100 outdoors. Cafes, bars and restaurants have to provide table service with a single server per table.