Small businesses beat the odds | Stuff.co.nz

Scores of small businesses beating the odds in post-quake Canterbury have lifted our spirits; these are TAMLYN STEWART 's pick of stand-out stories of tenacity from 2012.

--------------------

Margo Flanagan set up her barbershop at her Somerfield home after her New Regent St premises were cordoned off in the CBD red zone after February 22.

Flanagan said she never considered closing up shop. "You just do what you've got to do. You don't think about it, you just do it," she said.

One week after the February quake - once she and her husband had cleaned up the liquefaction at their Somerfield home - she had cleared out the "glorified junk room" in her back garden, transformed it into a barbershop and, with her dog working as her doorbell, Flanagan's first client arrived. Her database of client details had been out of reach inside her New Regent St shop, but after advertising in local media and having her business telephone line diverted to her home number, her clients responded. By March 21 she had her first fully booked day.

Flanagan had some initial costs to restart but had been fortunate, she said. A spare antique barber's chair had been stored at home so while her three barber chairs were stuck in her New Regent St shop for months she had had a chair for her clients.

"Ironically, my husband said to me a couple of weeks before the earthquake 'When are you going to get this barber's chair out of my garage?"'

Her "glorified junk room" looks like it has been a barbershop for years - complete with a barber's pole and a full appointment book.

?

*******************

Despite having to relocate four times since September 2010, The Cook Shop owner Elizabeth Fry has simply packed up, unpacked, kept calm and carried on.

The specialist kitchen retail business is a Christchurch institution of 30-plus years. Fry bought the business 16 years ago when it was based on Colombo St, near the Convention Centre and the Town Hall.

After September 4 the building "just didn't feel the same", prompting Fry to find an alternative site in the former Strategy building on Montreal St.

The business moved in November 2010, and traded strongly, picking up new customers.

But the February quake damaged that building, which has since been demolished, and the Cook Shop had to move.

When Fry and her husband returned to their Huntsbury home that day the damage was such they "couldn't find a toothbrush". They went to stay with friends in Springfield and Fry remembered arriving, and one of their friends pushing a glass of wine into her hand and saying "There we are Lizzy, take two big slurps, quickly."

In July they secured premises at 384 Montreal St. But in March they were given 24 hours' notice that the building was unsafe and they needed to move out. Stock went into storage at a friend's place and Fry had just started wondering "Where to next?" when Angus Cockram rang and said "You've had such a terrible time, would you like to take the showroom?"

After several months of trading from the showroom floor of Gary Cockram Hyundai, The Cook Shop is now settled in permanent premises on the corner of Holmwood Rd and Rossall St.

?

***********************

Kaye Briden has been in business for 24 years. Yazu Hair Lounge was originally based in Woolston and was a one-woman business when Briden bought it. It now employs 11 people.

When the September 4 quake hit in 2010, Yazu was not too badly damaged and took in another salon that was more affected, True Grit Hair Spa from Tuam St. But the February quake left the building red-stickered and Yazu had to relocate.

They were taken in by Scissortrix in Beckenham, where they stayed for seven months. True Grit re- established themselves in Tuam St.

Yazu ran its business from a laptop and remained separate within Scissortrix's salon. To keep all her staff employed, Briden reduced their hours and worked around Scissortrix staff - physically and in terms of rosters.

It was crucial to be up and running as fast as possible, and while those seven months weren't profitable, it was a time of maintaining the business.

Briden found new premises in Settlers Crescent in Ferrymead in June last year. When she and her staff went to look at the premises, the surrounding area was covered in liquefaction after that day's earthquake - it was June 13, 2011. Staff took some convincing that it could be turned into "something out of Paris". However, although the liquefaction caused a two- month delay, Briden has transformed it into a salon, complete with courtyard, fountain and outdoor seating.

Yazu retained existing customers and even picked up some new ones - foreign construction workers involved in the repairs of the Ferrymead bridge nearby.

?

****************

Two established Christchurch manufacturers of high-end handcrafted furniture collaborated to cut overheads and strengthen their businesses in post-quake Christchurch.

Davies Furniture had to move out of its Blenheim Rd premises in June after a detailed engineering evaluation revealed its building did not meet the new seismic building code requirements.

Davies Furniture managing director Andrew Davies and Southern Creations director Blair Quane agreed Davies Furniture staff and more than half its equipment would relocate to Southern Creations' Bromley factory.

Within a couple of days the pair had reached an agreement based on little more than a handshake, and Davies' staff moved in a couple of days later. Quane said he was a "typical manufacturer" with overheads to pay and too much capacity at his workshop.

The pair agreed Quane would run the manufacturing operations side of what they named The Design Workshop, and Davies would run the sales and marketing of three brands - Southern Creations, Davies Furniture, and Davies Furniture's new luxury brand, Treology, which crafts pieces from naturally felled ancient timber reclaimed from lakes and rivers in Fiordland and Northland.

Quane took Davies' staff on as his own, and Quane bills Davies for a percentage of the sale price of the pieces Davies markets and sells. Three years of recession had resulted in many New Zealand furniture manufacturers "dropping off" because of competition from imports but for these two companies their collaboration has meant better bargaining power with suppliers, better insurance premiums, and lower costs.

- ? Fairfax NZ News

Comments

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/business/8127725/Small-businesses-beat-the-odds

willis mcgahee willis mcgahee ship aground off italy nfl playoff schedule 2012 nfl live saints vs 49ers vanessa marcil