Local traders hoping for a bumper end to difficult year

WITH just a week to go until Christmas, shoppers in Tyrone are being urged to support their own as retailers hope for a bumper end to a difficult year.

While town centres have been busier since the end of the ‘circuit breaker’ last Friday, some local traders fear that people may already have done their Christmas shopping online due to the ongoing uncertainty about Covid restrictions.

Kevin Bowes, of Bowes Bros menswear store, which has been operating on Omagh’s Bridge Street for 21 years, said the last nine months had been the worst they had ever seen “without a shadow of a doubt”.

Mr Bowes estimates that the shop has lost 70 per-cent of its business due to the cancellation of many weddings and the loss of the school formal season because of the pandemic.

The businessman stressed that the health and safety of customers and staff had to come first, but is frustrated by the continuing cycle of opening and closing in recent months.

He fears that the uncertainty this has created has led to more people doing their Christmas shopping online.

But Mr Bowes remains thankful for the support of the shop’s loyal customer base and is hopeful of better days ahead.

While he admitted trade hadn’t been good since re-opening on Friday, the retailer added that, traditionally, Christmas Eve was their busiest day of the year.

Meanwhile, Kathryn Watterson, of Wattersons clothes and homeware store on High Street, said that the “mixed messages” from the government over the ‘Shop Local’ campaign had been difficult to understand and adapt to for both traders and their customers.

She said, “Even though the government encouraged this campaign, they also targeted the local high streets and local businesses to close during lockdown and allowed the larger retailers and multinationals to continue to trade that sell similar products.

“Local shops have all put a great effort in to keep their customers safe, encourage people to shop local, yet we were told to shut our doors and leave customers with little option but to shop online with all the government uncertainty.

“So we are hopeful that, with the remaining Christmas trading, we will be able to keep our doors open and do the job in a way we know and love, and see many more local people doing their shopping with us.”

With trade at the shop having been “very encouraging” since last Friday, Ms Watterson said all the departments had been busy.

She said they were “very thankful” many people were supporting local businesses and their local towns this year.

“It has been great to see and encourages us during such a strange and uncertain and difficult trading year,” the retailer added.