Nenagh festive trade: Christmas boom followed by lockdown gloom
Shoppers flocked in their droves to the streets of Nenagh to stock up for Christmas and the New Year.
A really busy shopping festive season has led to traders praising shoppers from Nenagh and all the surrounding parishes for rowing behind a ‘Shop Local’ campaign - support for which they say is vital to keeping the town alive and thriving in the face of the challenges posed by Covid, Brexit and record online shopping.
The town was very busy in the fortnight before Christmas as shoppers stocked up for the celebrations, and very large crowds were also evident right up to New Year's Eve.
Despite warnings from health experts urging people to hunker down in the face of alarming increases in Covid infections, the public car parks in the town and in super stores on the periphery were almost full on New Year's Eve as shoppers converged on the town to spend.
PUBLIC COMPLIED WITH GUIDELINES
However, Nenagh Chamber of Commerce spokesman Denis Finnerty said people were very compliant in terms of observing social distancing and wearing masks to help stop the spread of the virus.
“We ourselves had a very busy December, but we were not over-run by customers at any time,” said the Kenyon Street pharmacist.
"What I noticed is that if people came in to the store and if they felt there were numbers of people inside they pottered off somewhere else and came back to us later.
“In that way business was spread a little more evenly rather than us being over-run with shoppers at any one time, and I think that sense of responsibility shown by people was reflected in the very low numbers of infections that Nenagh had compared to so many other places.”
Mr Finnerty said that after living with eight months of on-off restrictions, people were just happy to be on the streets again.
“At the end of what has been a very challenging year, it was lovely to see people in such good humour. I just think they were glad to get out of the house and glad to meet people, even if they were talking to each other through masks and having to stay two metres apart. They may not have been able to go into a café for a coffee together, but they seemed happy to just be able to chat on the streets.”
LOYALTY SHOWN BY CUSTOMERS
Mr Finnerty said the people of Nenagh and surrounding parishes were fantastic in the way they came out to support local shops. “I think there was a little bit in the local people just saying to shopkeepers, ‘look we appreciate you’, and we as shop owners have to say that we are thankful for every little bit of business that we can get.”
Kenyon Street butcher Denis Quirke said he had his best festive shopping season in his 43 years trading on the street.
“I think the Shop Local campaign that was organised for Christmas was very good. We had an unbelievable turnout of shoppers. The local council really came good this year in the way they promoted the town, so credit were credit is due,” said Mr Quirke.
He added: “I think we have always being loyal to local people in trying to give them the best possible service we can, and I think they came out and returned their loyalty to us when we needed them most.
“All the people from the surrounding parishes came out in force and it really showed the great camaraderie that exists between these communities and local shop owners. We know our customers so well that they are more like our friends.”
Alexis Kelly, proprietor of the Wine Buff shop in Cecil Walk off Kenyon Street, said shoppers were very observant of social distancing measures. “There were a lot of people on the streets, but they were happy to obey the rules and they didn't mind waiting in queues outside shops if things were busy. Everyone just seemed to be in good form, and to be honest, people have been very resilient; there was nobody moaning or groaning, they were just embracing the spirit of Christmas.”
SUPPORTING LOCAL JOBS
Kevin McSherry, owner of the Open Season shop in Pearse Street, said the loyalty shown by local shoppers was heartening to see.
“I think people really made an effort to keep it local,” he said, urging the public to redouble their efforts to support Irish companies.
“We have always stressed on our website to keep it local, and by that we mean it's better to buy from a shop in Mullingar than to go online and shop in another country such as England or on Amazon. We prefer to see people buy somewhere in Ireland because if everyone buys everything off Amazon there will be nothing going on in your local town. How would your teenager daughter get a part-time job in a local shop to help fund her through college if there's no shops? I think those kind of issues now seem to be striking home with people.”
Knuckling down for several weeks of lockdown ahead, Mr McSherry said it would be a tough time for many local shops. “It's very hard on owners of all non-essential shops having to close again. And if you have, say, a clothes shop and you can't have a January sale then you won't be able to clear stuff and you will still be trying to get it out the door next Christmas.”
Mr McSherry is not sure the Government could do anything but lock the country down again given the rate of increase in infections, apart maybe from being a little more sensitive to the needs of sectors like small businesses who are suffering some of the worst ill effects of the pandemic.
“I don't see any other alternative they have apart from the lockdown - their rage of options are very limited. But I don't think moving ahead with pay increases for the public sector look good or sounds right when you have shop and business owners who are being asked to shut their doors and survive on €350 a week. I haven't seen any great solidarity from the people calling the shots.”
VACCINATION PROGRAMME OFFERS HOPE
Denis Finnerty agrees that the lockdown, that some government sources have said could last until March, will impact on businesses. “But the fear is that if we don't impose a lockdown our health services would not be able to cope and that doctors would end up having to make terrible decisions about who to treat and who to let die, and that is not a situation any country with a humane medical system would wish to have. We want to try to avoid that at all costs and that is why, I suppose, people have to accept it for what it is until the vaccination programme is rolled out in full.
“I think the one thing businesses hate more than being closed is being open and having nobody coming in. So, we need to get the fear factor out of the equation, get the big infection rates down, and hopefully open in a controlled way again.”
For Denis Quirke's butchering business, the lockdown has been a positive aspect. “Our year throughtout the pandemic was so good, and the business we did at Christmas and into the New Year added a major plus to it,” he said.
“The good thing for food shops like mine is people have to eat even during a lockdown. People are stuck at home and they have nowhere to go so they are cooking meals and their kids are stuck at home with them going to the fridge every ten minutes looking for food. So that demand has been good for shops like mine.
“I think the food industry has come to the fore in this pandemic and we will always be here to look after our customers and give them the service they deserve,” concluded Mr Quirke.