Couva store owner: lockdown changed business for good

Business has been slow for Brookly-Ann Telemaque since her store reopened on August 16.

But she isn’t entirely attributing her slow sales to people's spending ability. Instead, Telemaque thinks covid19 has changed the business landscape for retail stores like her.

She is the owner of Clam Couture Clothing in Couva.

When Newsday visited on Thursday, she told Newsday, “I didn’t get a big rush (since reopening). It’s not like before…it’s a little slower.

“Remember, it have online (shopping) now, so people were getting stuff online.”

Telemaque’s store did online sales during the closure of TT’s retail sector and even though it has now physically reopened, she has continued online sales. But now she’s questioning the future of her physical store as her online sales have been higher than in-person sales.

“Now, I don’t think having a physical store makes sense. Because everything is selling online.”

Nevertheless, with a changing business landscape and the spending ability of consumers being affected by covid19, Telemaque is calling on the government to support business owners more.

She lamented, “I think the government isn’t doing anything for small businesses, everybody knows that.

“If they do give you money, you have to go to end of the road to get this money.”

For example, Telemaque said she sought and received financial support from the government last year. But it left much to be desired.

“That can’t help a business recover. They need to have accessible loans where people can access money with less hassle…they don’t have to go through stress to get money.

“When you close the place, people losing thousands of dollars.

“When you try to come back out to business from a covid19 lockdown, it’s hard because people are adapted to online shopping.”

It is this digitisation of the world that has Zafir Mohammed disappointed that electronic stores like his were closed during the last shurtdown of the retail sector.

Mohammed is the manager of the Couva branch of The Wizz Computers Ltd.

He told Newsday, “When the lockdown was put in place, having a retail store like us closed wasn’t a very smart move.

“We had e-mail coming through from customers complaining and wishing that we could have opened.

“This is a technology store. Everybody need computers, everybody need ink…having us closed for so long – which is more than three months – made it very difficult, especially on parents who had to do online schooling with their children."

Mohammed said the store has experienced high sales since reopening on August 16 because of the importance of its business in an increasingly digitised world.

“The world revolves around technology. Communication right now is based on technology, due to covid19. There are people that are working from home. They need webcams, headsets and all these things.

"So having a business place like us closed for so long wasn’t a really smart move.”