The pandemic changed our business… Here is a story about our journey to a (hopeful) recovery.
Our storefront was located at 45 Cavill Avenue, Surfers Paradise Queensland; a location very popular for international tourists. We’ve been there for many years now so I considered that my second home. This meant that we’d been targeting our products and advertisements for these tourists for as long as I could remember. Many of our tourists came from places like China, Japan, India and we had many interstate tourists each day as well.
In March 2020, when the Corona Virus became a real threat to Australia, our business immediately felt the impacts of it. Less people were visiting Cavill Avenue and it soon became a ghost town. Honestly, we all felt a little lost.
At the time, we were under the impression that it would only be a matter of months before everything was back to normal. We felt hopeful knowing that we could keep our store open for the time being.
But we soon began to worry about the costs – rent, electricity, water bills… not to mention the costs of products. We were quickly losing money and making little to no profit.
The start of our online presence…
One of my beautiful colleagues started an Instagram page (@opalgallery.gc). My daughter who had only just started her first year as a teacher started to help. I never asked my daughters to help but it was a time when the help was so needed.
We set up a Shopify account as a temporary fix with the hopes that we would be able to make some sales. We had no idea what we were supposed to do, or how any of this ‘online’ shopping world worked. There was a lot of guessing involved.
Without the support of our close friends, families, and supporters I don’t think we would have survived. But we’re here, we’re safe and we’re doing okay. That’s something I am very grateful for.
Keep an eye out for the next part of the pandemic story!