Businesses that survive crisis will need new regime - Kevin Buckle

I remember when I was a kid and my mum would take me and my brother into town and our first stop was to see which annuals were left at half price.

I would always look for the football ones first and then if I had any Christmas money left those relating to the children’s comics I read.

Avalanche traditionally has never really had sales but with things much quieter than normal before Christmas I had plenty of really good stock that would be able to make up a sale that didn’t comprise, like so many do, things that have not sold well.

Anyway that was all scuppered with the news that we had to close from Boxing Day though to be honest I ended up just being glad we at least got to trade to Christmas. It isn’t the end of the world in that I can have an online sale which won’t be the same but at least will keep some money coming in.

Others, of course, are not so lucky and though many had sales before Christmas as has happened now for some years it hasn’t been enough to make a difference to what has been a difficult year to put it mildly.

Nobody I have spoken to is optimistic that shops will be allowed to reopen after the initial review and are planning to be closed at least for January and quite possibly beyond.

At the same time no amount of compensation will make up for lost Christmas takings so for some there is no doubt that these latest closures will be the last straw.

Understandably with a vaccination programme in place shops had started to feel a corner had been turned and Easter would see the start of fortunes reviving.

Even for those who still think they can make it through to the summer if necessary this false dawn has knocked the stuffing out of them and nobody is making plans now beyond how to get through each week as it comes.

What this does mean is that once things do start to improve everything possible needs to be done to help businesses as simply giving aid when they are closed is to miss the point.

As shops in the city centre have discovered to their cost if you take away most of the office workers, have no tourists and anybody from the Borders, Fife, Glasgow and West Lothian are barred from shopping then supportive as many locals have been there is often little point in being open.

It will be easy to forget about business support as things get better but it will be a long time before business is back to normal and many will even then still be needing to cope with the huge losses sustained this year.

Long term the one thing that will help most is making the rates that shops pay more realistic something that was needed even before the pandemic hit.