As the second national lockdown enters its second week, shops have had to close their doors once again and small business owners say the negative effect is inevitable.
Take a walk down any high street and there will be many shops with closed doors during this pandemic – either due to lockdown restrictions or due to financial troubles for independent retailers.
Justine Bistacci who runs Shabby to Chic dog grooming in Altrincham, told us how Covid-19 has impacted her business.
The 51-year-old dog groomer said: “The pandemic has affected business as I am now unable to take in more dogs per day.
“I have to sanitise everything between customers and with new lockdown rules my customers will be unable to travel by car unnecessarily therefore making it impossible for me to run my business as before.”
The government does offer a grant to independent retailers, but they say this does not come close to the revenue that they would usually make, meaning these shops are still making a loss.
High streets are covered in fast food restaurants, which are still able to operate on the basis that customers do not sit in, meaning they can only offer a takeaway service.
Despite being able to stay open these businesses have also encountered some issues with suppliers running at a slower pace than normal causing a shortage of ingredients.
As people are cooped up inside take-out food has become seemingly more popular which could create a lot more money for these independent shops, but with a shortage of ingredients from the supplier this puts a strain on take-out services.
Take-out places also say they are under even more stress due to the extra cost of PPE for the staff in order to keep them safe.
And those takeout restaurants who use food delivery services or apps such as Just Eat have to give commission to the company meaning the revenue is on each order is reduced.
