Retailers put brave face on loss of key trade
ASHBOURNE’S retailers are trying to put a brave face on the situation and developing what they learned in the spring lockdown to adapt their businesses to the closure.
Ashbourne gift shop owner Chloe Gibson says her Market Place shop, Optimum, has been very busy since the
Prime Minister announced a second lockdown on Saturday evening.
She says she will now use the forced closure to keep in touch with customers and ensure they can still access her products.
Chloe, a member of the Ashbourne Retail Group, said:
“We’re just going to try to be as flexible as we possibly can. We’ll do video tours for people, if they want to use Facetime or Whatsapp, we can do that.
“We can arrange for people to click and collect at the door, or we can deliver.
“Everyone will be doing the same sort of thing. All of a sudden we’re back to the ‘new normal’ and we have to do the best we can possibly can.
“We’ve just got to take the positives from it. We can’t change it. It gives us a month to get all the stock ready for December, get everything out, get everything ready, then when the doors open again, we’re just ready to go.
“So it’s given us a bit of a chance to reset, and we’ll just be good to go come December.”
Anne Wright, who runs two of the largest stores in the town; Young Ideas and is part of the Town Team, says now is the time for people to remember their local businesses and to give them support.
She said: “We’re all just concerned and unsure. It’s very uncertain.
“But I think the positive thing is that we’ve all adapted enormously, to be able to look after people remotely and virtually.
“We’ve set up a website and we can now sell online - still continuing a personal service online, with video calls, Whatsapp calls and Facetime.
“And I’m hoping people will still be wanting to shop with us for Christmas gifts and we can help them with click and collect and all of those things. We’ve all adapted enormously.
“I think the message is to ask people to please still think about shopping locally. Don’t think that that door is closed. Everyone will find ways of servicing their local customers and they need the support more than ever now.
“So maybe think twice before shopping on Amazon and see if you can get it locally first.”