Cathy Gibb-de Swarte says almost a year on – how are our local
retailers coping with the pandemic.
Last March there were of course government guidelines to abide by and the Littleport community rallied helping people who had to self-isolate by setting up a Community Covid Help group which involved picking up shopping and/or prescriptions or making a friendly call and posting the mail -nothing was too much trouble for the quickly assembled volunteers that could remind us of the Home Guard during the war!
More lockdowns and restrictions ensued and more frustration for mainly the shoppers.
So how are the retail workers coping as they continue to religiously serve the general public.
Garry Noble and his wife Katie who this year have worked at Littleport’s ‘small’ Co-op Main Street store for 24 and 21 years respectively, admitted that in these times the work has “got much harder.”
Garry without fail is there every day, while his wife Kate works most days, but they have had to juggle their shifts around their two children so as to allow for home schooling and childcare.
“I am so glad that we still have jobs to go to, and that we have the rewards of knowing we have kept the store going to support the community,” Garry told Littleport Life.
And Garry’s Manager Matthew Thorogood reiterates that life on the retail frontline during the pandemic has its ups and down, but: “We are pulling together to provide a service which I know the majority of our customers truly appreciate!”
The larger Co-op in Wisbech Road saw the departure of Manager Georgia Hudson who had been commuting from home in Peterborough for four and a half years, and she has nothing but praise for her former dedicated workforce.
“There are currently 35 colleagues including management at this Littleport branch, and they are a full team of hard working and dedicated colleagues, who without them this Co-op certainly wouldn’t be as strong as it is today.
“They had some fantastic support from customers and members who are always thankful of everything the staff has done and it has certainly given the team a tremendous boost which has literally kept them going.
“Throughout the pandemic the staff there have gone from strength to strength ensuring that they can give everything they can to the community and continue to do so.
“I’ve enjoyed every day here at Littleport working with some fantastic colleagues and meeting our lovely community. “I will thoroughly miss each and every one of my team and people of the Littleport community, but I am so pleased to have left the strongest team we have ever had to continue supporting everyone throughout these challenging and unknown times,” said Georgia Hudson, who has now taken up her managerial Co-op role in her hometown of Peterborough and everyone at Littleport Life wishes Georgia well and we thank her for diligently serving our Littleport Community.
Claire Butcher is the great Manager of One Stop and during her 12 year spell at the helm hasn’t experienced anything like the pandemic conditions, and recalls when the shop first implemented their cleaning station.
“We had a hand sanitizer and cleaning spray to clean the shopping baskets which most customers used, but then you get the odd few non-compliant ones.
“Then social distancing was soon put in place in the store and I recall spending the morning on the floor marking out squares 2 metres apart until we finally got our permanent vinyl flooring.
“We’ve been very fortunate that none of our staff have contracted Covid, but some of our members have had to self isolate,” revealed Claire, who has seen an increased number of people shopping locally which was probably due to people not wanting to use large out of town supermarkets.
Claire said that with the first lockdown it was manic with empty shelves, but as she says: “Luckily people have calmed down and realise that there is really enough to go round.
Claire also wanted to thank her staff for “their continued hard work through this hard time.”
The local and friendly Costcutter proprietor Thillaiyarothayan Poopalisingam reports that business had been a bit quiet since the last government restrictions in January, but that he was still more than happy to keep the store open in order to provide a service for the local community.
Mr Poopalisingam explained that the store remained opened from 10 am to 7 pm every day, but that “someone would always come in at the last minute needing to get a pay as you go top up on their gas card or electric key because they had run out,” he said.
The local Post Office which doubles up as McColl’s Newsagents caters for everyone and anyone and they certainly pull out all the stops when it comes to their customers.
Zoe Coulson, who has been a hard- working employee there for 12 years says her work colleagues, Sarah, Alice, Yvonne, James, Christine, Sue and Marie are a really good team together.
“Since these difficult times I would say 90% of the customers understand the rules in the shop. Of course you are going to have a few who can be a bit rude, but I just smile politely because after all we are here to help and of course that is our job,” said Zoe, who continued: “And if any customer can’t get out to buy their daily newspaper, they are asked to just ring the shop, and if they need anything else then me and James are happy to deliver it to them on their doorstep.”
At the other end of the village down Wisbech Road at the A10 roundabout the BP Garage houses an M&S food store and the management and staff there are always happy to serve from early morning to late at night.
The vast array of takeaways and restaurants, from Rumbles, PizzaTown, Ali Kebabs, Habis, Spice Lounge to name but a few, still provide a service and even The Swan on the River bistro pub and bed and breakfast have set up a their own brand “The Swan BBQ and Pizza” collection and/or delivery service and you can download their details on Apple or Google Play or visit
www.swanbbqandpizza-app.co.uk
Littleport’s shops are the best!