Coronavirus: welcome relief, but road back is long

Small business owner Elle-May Michael has experienced the full gamut of emotions waiting to find out when her retail arts shop would be able to trade again.

Elle-May Michael, owner of In.cube8r Gallery & Emporium in Prahran, Melbourne says it’s all hands on deck as she prepares for Wednesday’s reopening. Picture: David Geraghty

Small business owner Elle-May Michael has experienced the full gamut of emotions waiting to find out when her retail arts shop would be able to trade again.

There have been periods of anxiety, followed by misery — and now, finally, a welcome burst of excitement.

But on Tuesday, the owner of In.cube8r gallery and emporium in the Melbourne suburb of Prahran will be too busy to feel much at all as she scrambles to get ready to reopen the following day. “I have a two-hour staff meeting on our COVIDSafe procedures organised, in between packing orders and changing window displays. And we’ll have lots of our artists visiting to prepare their displays,” Ms Michael said.

“But it’s good. I feel pretty comfortable about reopening; we’re definitely ready.”

Melbourne’s extended lockdown has been tough on the business, which rents out space, called “cubes”, to emerging designers and artists. It also provides mentoring services to help them grow their brands. Located on fashionable Greville Street, the retail space has long been popular with international tourists drawn to its unique fashion, jewellery, homewares and artworks, meaning the pandemic took away a significant chunk of its market.

 

Ms Michael chose early on in stage three restrictions to close. She said it didn’t feel appropriate to keep the “non-essential” store open when the message from health authorities was for the public to stay at home.

She spent $4000 setting up an online store, which was no mean feat given that the store typically sells 6000 one-off items at any given time.

Further, Ms Michael said she decided to stop charging her artists rent — which, rather than commissions, is how the business derives its income — in light of the fact that they were no longer able to take advantage of passing trade.

“I had one of my lovely staff set up a GoFundMe to help cover some of our costs and they managed to raise $11,000 — which was great because I had some staff who I couldn’t get JobKeeper for,” she said.

“And there was that constant worry about paying bills and the loan and not knowing when things would go back to normal.”

Ms Michael said the reopening would provide much-needed certainty to her artists, although the delay means she has not been able to book out all available “cubes” ahead of the ­crucial pre-Christmas trading period.

“I usually fill up by August, September,” she said.

“I do still have availability if there are artists who would feel better selling in a retail environment rather than at a market.”