The COVID pandemic that rapidly spread around the globe had a lasting and considerable impact on my small retail business. To begin, when a wave of lockdown came, I had to shut down my business and send employees home for a period of time. After the strictest measures were lifted, we were able to operate at a maximum amount of four hours per day with the minimum number of staff. We were only able to do curbside pickup and/or 1 person at a time inside our store, which ed t drastic decrease in profits at the same time considerably enhancing clients’ waiting time.
Another problem cause by the lockdown was the disruption of the supply chain due to the lack of supplies and delivery options. Our exclusive vendor had to shutdown, and we could not get his merchandise despite the fact that it was the only brand we sold. After some time, when supplied resumed, our retailer business could function a very slow pace, which resulted in constant delays of our merchandise to the clients.
The COVID-19 pandemic also brought forth health and safety concerns as the company had to make sure that no employees or clients are subject to unwarranted health risks. We had to find ways to prevent clients from handling merchandise on the shelves apart from the items they intended to buy. For this, we hang declarations asking clients to be aware of the health risks and not to take anything they were not willing as to buy. While the measures were effective in preventing COVID-19 contaminations, at the same time they led to the loss of some of our permanent clients who enjoyed handling the goods before making decision on whether to buy them. Gradually, the limitations were lifted; however, in COFID-19 pandemic, our small retail business lost some percentage of its marginality and some of its staunchest clients.