Businesses on the West Coast battle post-covid pressures

 

Business owners around Greymouth on the South Island's West Coast know about tough times - trading through coal mine closures, the Pike River disaster, the Christchurch quakes and recessions.

And then there's Covid-19 and a cost of living crunch.

But ahead of the election, and the usually busy summer season, there are glimmers of hope - including at Pink Possum Quilting. 

It is a colourful presence on the side of State Highway 6 between Greymouth and Runanga.

Sue Roper owns the shop and said there were signs trade was improving, although she was not feeling overly confident pre-election.

"It's started to pick up again. I've started to do some travelling with my shop and we've got classes back in the shop now.

"People are starting to trickle through. We're getting to see some tourists now."

The shop mostly captured a local market and did mail orders, Roper said.

"I'm quite a niche business. I usually only get the avid quilters from overseas - ones that are into their quilting, but nothing like it was before. Not yet."

Last year was tough for Roper. As well as the Covid slowdown, the shop was flooded when a nearby creek overflowed.

"I had half a metre of water through my shop, which meant I was shut for about four months. 

"I had to replace all the shelving, and a lot of low-lying fabric and stuff. It was quite devastating. It came in within an hour."

Roper and husband Mark also run a quad bike tour business over tracks on their farm - although they planned to close that next year after one more summer.

"Even the price of fabric has gone up, and I've tried to absorb some of that myself, but you can only absorb so much without making it too difficult on the business.

"I've noticed that the subscriptions are dropping because people are worried. They're more concentrating on just saving and diverting funds elsewhere." 

And, there was the ever-growing presence of online shopping.

Alf Harrison Menswear owner Lindsay Gilshnan said that was one of many changes she and husband John had seen in their 38 years at the helm of the business.

"I think people are buying online since Covid and during Covid. That's killing a lot of retailers."

Gilshnan was not sure what could be done about that.

"We don't take anything to heart. We just get on with it. We might have one bad day then a good day, so one day balances the other."

Alf Harrison Menswear was not really a tourist stop. Gilshnan said it had regular customers, and then many of their children would become regulars.

Like any business, it had evolved down the years.

"The town was buzzing back then, but then the coal mines, they're gone. They're trying to shut this down and that down," she said.

"We used to be really busy, and [there was] no Saturday trading way back then. On Friday nights, sometimes, we wouldn't close until 9pm.

"All the farmers used to come in on a Friday, so Fridays were really busy."

Gilshnan said businesses were looked after during the Covid years with the likes of bridging loans to get through.

In Runanga, Macs Store and Takeaways owner Garry McMillan said he was ticking along.

"We're pretty good at the moment. We've got no problems. We're happy with the turnover we're doing," he said.

"We've got a lot of loyal customers and we've got a lot of people who come through, whether they're travelling up to Cold Creek Falls or down to the local swimming hole. We get a lot of visitors."

But, like Roper at Pink Possum Quilting, dealing with rising costs was tough, McMillan said.

"It's pretty hard to keep up with it. We've got to check everything all the time. When's it going to stop? It makes it hard on us, really."

McMillan said the business absorbed some of the rising costs to keep locals coming in.

For the election, he would like to see political parties focus on security for business owners.

A few kilometres north at Rapahoe, Beach View Motel owner Keith Rusholme was enjoying the lifestyle the four-unit accommodation business provided.

"Business is picking up again. In winter it gets slow, which is fine because that gives us a bit of a break, but at the moment we're doing okay.

"It's all picked up in September. They're talking about a lot of tourists coming through. Whether that happens or not we'll wait and see."

He said businesses on the West Coast were becoming more tourist focused.

"I look at the politics and what's going on and worry that it's focusing on the wrong issues. On the West Coast, for instance, all the change that's happened, mining and all that, causes a lot of concern to people because they wonder what's going to happen next."

And while the West Coast was isolated, it was not immune from issues affecting the country.

"We've got 32,000 people on the West Coast and [we're] 1000-odd km long. Fuel prices are going up. It's over $3 a litre now so that's a major issue that's looming for us here."