nursery matters JOHN BARKER Image source: pexels.com
Barking Mad With independent retailers being able to re-open this month, Pramland’s John Barker is feeling both apprehensive and optimistic. Here he shares his thoughts.
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oday is Sunday the 11th April and tomorrow is a pretty big day for us us retailers. Tomorrow is the 12th April 2021 and it’s a day we have all been waiting for. I feel like a little kid the night before Christmas. Patiently waiting for the big day to arrive, full of excitement and anticipation. Will there be a Millennium Falcon under the tree? Have Mum & Dad managed to get me that Commodore Amiga Batman Pack I NEED? Tomorrow at 9:30 we’ll be opening our doors to the public for the first time since we entered Lockdown back in January. Despite every moan I have made about being closed and how trade has declined since the date of our re-opening was announced, now we are actually here, poised and ready to go, I feel apprehensive and a little gutted. It’s the oddest thing, it’s almost like I resent customers coming in to the store to shop. I can’t seem to understand why I feel this way but I do. I’m dreading the inevitable issues that will arise from re-opening, stock problems, arguments with people that have not booked an appointment for the first weekend and don’t understand
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why they can’t come in, having to control and stop people from walking around the store touching and licking everything in sight. I guess it boils down to the fact that I haven’t missed any of these things and now they will be back again I’m a little put off. I’m sure after the first couple of days we’ll all be back in to the swing of things, but the adjustment from a clean, organised and quiet store to a full one will be so strange. There’s also a level of anticipation for how well we’ll do. To hear the till ringing throughout the day, and to see the order book slowly (not too slowly hopefully) filling back up again will no doubt aid in my mental recovery. It’s just that we can’t guarantee what level of success we’ll see. Trying to forecast the next couple of months has been like a combination of pin the tail on the donkey and a countdown numbers round. We can look at
Tryin g to forecast the next couple of months has been like a combination of pin the tail on the donkey and a countdown numbers round. We can look at wh at we’d take on an average week or month, but this is no average week. I’ve assumed that we hit our average and anything over that is a huge and very welcome bonus.
john@pramland.co.uk
