Chichester independent business staff speak out as second national lockdown begins

Mayor of Chichester, Richard Plowman has pleaded with shoppers to support city centre businesses during such an important time and warned that many may find it difficult to carry on, resulting in more empty shops. Read more hereDave Hockridge, from gift shop Present Surprise in South Street, backed the national lockdown, stressing that public health is ‘far more important than money’.

Despite not having an online shop to fall back on in the run-up to Christmas, and ‘going a whole month without any income’, Dave said: “If this knocks the number of cases and fatalities down, it’s got to be done.

“It is frustrating but the most important thing is people’s health."

Matt Horstead, owner of Dartagnan Menswear in North Street, said the financial impact on the business ‘is going to be huge’.

He added: “November and December is our busiest time of the year. In one swoop, we have to shut down.

“We are very worried but I am going to do my best to carry on trading online.”

Matt said the store has set up a new website which went live today (Thursday).

"This will be hugely important," Matt said. "We want people to migrate to our social platforms so we can keep going.”

Beth Puttock, manager of Between The Lines in North Street, said having to close in the run up to Christmas is ‘absolutely devastating’.

She added: “Our customers are so loyal and people class us as an essential shop so it’s very sad. We will be here for our customers and hope they come back to us [in December].”

Peter Allinson, founder of Whirligig Toys, which has a branch in South Street, Chichester, said lockdown will have a ‘massive impact’, as its usual income over Christmas accounts for ‘more than half’ of the overall business.

He said: “We knew this was coming so we have really prepared for it.

"We’ve put everything on our online shop and we are offering free deliveries as our way of helping out.

“Small, independent businesses are agile and can make changes. We can take phone calls to guide people around the website.

"We may be able to reinstate our click and collect service and we are going to make sure our windows are full of nice things, so people can have a look if they’re out and about.

“It’s devastating but we will be alright. Chichester is such a lovely place to come and visit and people will come back to find them again afterwards.”

Have you read?: All the places in Chichester and Bognor Regis which will have to close during second lockdown

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