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Businesses bouncing back in Otahuhu town centre
By ROWENA SINGH
AUCKLAND – Small businesses are still hurting because of the restrictions to trading during the lockdowns and the plummeting demand for their goods and services .
Migrant News spoke with Richette Rodger , Manager of Otahuhu Business Association to get insight into the trials and tribulations of small business owners faced when the business world went into a tailspin because of the pandemic .
Q : How many businesses have closed down in Otahuhu due to COVID ?
A : Within the Otahuhu centre , fingers crossed , we have had none . Everybody came back , doors opened after the first lockdown and the second lockdown .
Q : How are the businesses in Otahuhu affected by the COVID ? A : Businesses were hugely affected by COVID and obviously to make things even harder for them , the Otahuhu Town Centre was going through an upgrade and there were roadworks everywhere .
Most of our businesses were able to apply for and receive the wage subsidy which was phenomenal for our businesses .
Some have also in turn applied for a government loan but it ’ s been hard .
All of our businesses were closed in level 4 , very few businesses were able to open in level 3 . We don ’ t have many businesses that have websites or online ordering availabilities so most of our businesses were not able to open until level 2 the first time and the second time . It was a complete loss of revenue during that time .
Q : How is the Otahuhu Business Association helping the local businesses survive ?
A : One of the things we did in the first lockdown is we created the Otahuhu Support Local campaign , we had some stencils made which we went out into the wider area of Otahuhu , we went to our parks and sports ground and we sprayed the footpaths with Otahuhu Support Local .
We run the Otahuhu Facebook page and we have the Otahuhu Support Local group where we showcased businesses of different areas whether it be clothing , whether it be food , whether it be our car yards , our mechanics and we went out and we tried to make sure that we were advertising all the businesses that were open whether it be in level 3 or level 2 .
We were encouraging people to support local . We also have an advertising partnership with Media Works and we advertise on Mai FM , More FM and the Breeze .
Unfortunately , this year we had to cancel our food festival . So we were able to put those extra resources and a little bit of extra budget into making sure we had a really solid advertising campaign for supporting our local businesses .
Q : Is there any help for the businesses from the government , the council or the landlords to help with the downturn ?
A : One of the things that we have been doing is that we are working closely with our landlords and our retailers and our business owners and we created some templates that they were able to use to take to their landlords which was quite helpful for those for whom English is their second language .
They were able to take those templates to the landlords requesting rent rebates or OPEX rebates ( operating expenses for a business – for instance rates , insurance , water , body cooperate fees that businesses have to pay on top of their rent .)
Some businesses were able to get 50 % off their rent for a couple of months . Some people did 25 % off their rent . Don ’ t know of any landlord that gave 100 % off . But there were definitely some phenomenal landlords out there that were able to pass rent rebates onto their businesses .
We helped a lot of businesses applying for the wage subsidy which was fantastic and we ’ ve also helped businesses apply for the one year interest free loans that the government was providing .
Q : Have you got any plans to drive customer traffic to the Otahuhu town centre ?
A : One of the things that
we are continuing to work on is the Support Local campaign coming up to Christmas .
We have phenomenal plans for Christmas . We have got some fantastic competitions and promotions that will be running in the months of November and December leading up to Christmas to get people to come into Otahuhu , to buy their Christmas presents in Otahuhu .
We have lost a lot of international spend , $ 200,000 is what ’ s normally spent in a 3- month period in Otahuhu by international customers and that income is all gone . So we need to figure out a way of how we can help our businesses . Not only make up for that $ 200,000 in loss spend but also to create an even bigger spend .
So lots of competitions , lots of promotions , lots of advertising , lots of buskers and street movement and so on and so forth that we ’ ll have in the town centre that we are creating that early Christmas buzz and hoping that we can give people a Christmas that is enjoyable and fun in such a bad climate that we ’ re in at the moment .
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By ROWENA SINGH
AUCKLAND – Over the years we have seen migrant businesses mushroom in the Otahuhu township , catering to the predominantly multicultural population that dwells in and around this bustling south Auckland neighbourhood .
The shops – a mix of grocery stores , ethnic eateries and clothing outlets – have been hit hard with the lack of customers due to the pandemic .
“ The COVID virus has affected the business too much - because our business is mainly catering and the catering is shut down as there aren ’ t any gatherings . As a result my business has plunged by 50 %,” confided Paramjit Singh , Manager of Chaska .
Singh , who came to New Zealand in 2002 , has been working in this business for more than 10 years .
“ The government has supported us with wage subsidies for the employees . Whatever we get from the government we give to them . In fact we paid 80 % of their salaries when the
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Selina - Aberdeen Asian Food Cuisine |
Migrant businesses in Otahuhu hit hard by pandemic
country was at Level 2 , even though we could only operate the takeaway business to generate income . But we did everything possible to ensure that staff retained their jobs .
“ But it is tough running a business in this climate . We are not getting the supplies we need and prices have been rising . For example , capsicum which used to be $ 6 to $ 7 a kilo shot up to $ 20 dollars a kilo . We could not cover the price hike by increasing the price of food as many of our customers are struggling having lost their jobs due to the pandemic
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.”
During the lockdown the bustling streets and lively atmosphere characteristic of Otahuhu was replaced by a sombre atmosphere , with some shops on the verge of shutting .
“ So to begin with , when COVID started a couple of months ago and Auckland was put on alert level 4 , the business really picked up because everyone was at home . This was really good for the business ,” observed Tanzin Khan , Assistant Manager at Family Food Mart .
“ Then when we moved to the second phase under
the 2.5 lockdown , business activity died down even though most of the businesses were open . Given that our business is in the South Auckland region where most of the cases were detected , customers were reluctant to leave their homes and some started making their purchases online .”
Tanzin came to New Zealand from Bangladesh in 2014 and has been working at this store for a year .
During the lockdown restaurants were particularly hard hit as friends and families could not gather together due to the
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restrictions .
“ It was tough ,” admitted Aranya Clark , the Owner and Manager of the Secret Thai Garden . “ During the lockdown the restaurant couldn ’ t open . But at the next level with restrictions we could open but had to space out the tables . That meant fewer customers at each sitting . A lot of birthday bookings were cancelled .”
Clark has been operating this restaurant for around 18 years . “ Business has been very slow and at times it is a struggle . The sooner we get to Level One the better it will be for businesses - that ’ s for sure ,” she concluded .
“ During Level 3 we were only allowed takeaway business and at that time the business was very bad . Not that many people were willing to come out to buy food ,” says Davy , the Otahuhu Ethnic Food Court Manager .
“ Under Level 2 we were able to open , but we had to undergo a lot of limitations . We kept the tables at 2-metre distances and all the customers who came in needed to register .
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( top :) Paramjit Singh , Chaksa ( above : Davy , Otahuhu Food Court Manager
Hopefully when it goes to Level 1 it ’ ll be back to normal .”
Editor : Interviews by Rowena Singh . Watch the video online at : www . migrantnews . nz
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