Byron boutique owner Natalia Feehan concerned about Covid roadmap

The owner of a Byron Bay clothing store says she doesn’t want her staff to have to ask customers for their vaccination status as new rules “put a lot of regional areas in a difficult position”.

Arcade Vintage Boutique owner Natalia Feehan says she doesn’t want her staff to have to ask customers about their vaccination status.

The pandemic has already had a profound impact on Natalia Feehan’s Byron Bay business.

Ms Feenan, who owns Arcade Vintage Boutique, said it hadn’t only been North Coast lockdowns affecting her turnover.

Barricades at the Queensland border have cut the number of day trippers and a lengthy lockdown in Sydney has also hurt foot traffic and online spending.

“It’s been a really tricky time,” Ms Feehan said.

She said online transactions were a large part of her business but financial uncertainty had taken a toll.

Ms Feehan recently took to social media to state she would not refuse to serve people who hadn’t been vaccinated.

She said banning unvaccinated people from a range of activities like retail shopping when the NSW Government’s roadmap rules kicked in at 70 and 80 per cent double vaccination did not sit well with her.

“If we look at Byron as a whole from the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve had very minimal community transmission here so I think … it shows they have been doing the right thing,” she said.

While she copped some backlash from her post, which also says she wouldn’t discriminate against people based on gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation, Ms Feehan stressed she wasn’t trying to compare the topics with vaccination.

She said refusing service to any of those groups of people, or those who hadn’t had a Covid-19 vaccine, would be discriminatory.

“Anytime you segregate someone else for any choice or any reason that, to me, is discrimination,” she said.

She said there was a “mind-boggling” inconsistency that pubs and shops could operate without refusing anyone service before those freedoms were restricted to the fully-vaccinated on October 11.

“Right now I can have my store open and I don’t need to ask anyone (about their vaccination status),” she said.

“We’ve been operating as a business for the last 18 months, obviously implementing Covid protocols to keep people safe.”

She said it was troubling that she would soon be asked to refuse customers entry based on whether they had been vaccinated.

“I feel like these blanket rules really put a lot of regional areas in a difficult position,” she said.

“Anyone who’s not vaccinated in the area now is able to go to cafes, is able to go to restaurants, but as of 11 October they will no longer be able to do that.”

As of next week when those new roadmap rules kick in, Mr Feehan said she wanted to be able to trust people were doing the right thing.

She said QR codes and mask-wearing would still be required.

“I don’t want my staff to be bouncers and tell people no, they can’t come in,” she said.

“I don’t think that’s really fair to put my staff in that position.”

She said she was aware of circumstances where customers had become aggressive toward staff in other businesses when they try to enforce Covid rules.

“If there is a situation that arises where the customer becomes aggressive it will put my staff in a dangerous situation,” she said.

She said the onus should be on individuals to follow the public health orders.

“I just feel like there should be a level of trust with that,” she said.

“I just don’t want my staff to be put in an awkward or uncomfortable position where they do ask someone about a medical procedure they’ve had.”

She acknowledged Covid-19 was “rampant” but said she had never before been required to enquire about a customer’s vaccination status for any other communicable disease.

“There are other measures we’re taking to keep the community safe,” she said.