Best known as a haven for hipsters and vintage shoppers, retail businesses on the Shoreditch High street now face the economic consequences of yet another national lockdown.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered pubs, restaurants, gyms and non-essential shops to close for four weeks from last Thursday. As the fresh set of restrictions sets in, the second lockdown is yet another blow to many of Brick Lane’s independent businesses, which were only just starting to see small signs of recovery.
Pearl Chapman has been working at vintage store, Rokit, for just over two years. She told Raven this week that after the first lockdown, Brick Lane was hit hard by the loss of tourists and students.
“Our normal demographic wasn’t the same when the shop reopened, it was really slow to get back into things,” she said.
Pearl Chapman behind the counter at Rokit.
Chapman thinks that because of the pandemic, many people were no longer comfortable with coming out to physical stores. Many of Brick Lane’s regular customers have simply not returned.
While digital and online sales did help during the first lockdown, Chapman says it “didn’t equal to the amount we were making before”.
Chapman is worried that her company might go under: “There’s a lot of hypothetical things at the moment, so I don’t know what is going to happen.”
Thomas Holland is an employee at the Brick Lane Vintage market, which is a few blocks along the street from Rokit, and is an avid vintage shopper himself.
Holland said this week that many people working at the Brick Lane vintage market were suffering. “Because of the pandemic, and because of the way the British government has been handling it, there’s not a lot of help for people who are self-employed,” he said.
He much prefers in-person shopping: “In vintage shopping, there might be a rip in the sleeve, they’re not going to show you that online.”
Thomas Holland minding a shop at the Brick Lane Vintage Market.
With these “non-essential” businesses being asked to shut again, self-employed shop owners in Shoreditch will have to turn to the government for aid.
The Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that the furlough scheme, that pays employees 80 per cent of their wages, will be extended through November. However, he made no mention of additional help for the self-employed.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s recent announcement of a winter economic plan does include fresh support grants for the self-employed, however, they are less generous than those announced previously in the spring.
These difficult economic circumstances have made those in the industry anxious. “A lot of people rely on what they make in a day to get through the next month,” Holland said. “The sale of one shirt could be the make or break between paying their bills or missing rent.”
Just over a week into the second lockdown, the streets of Brick Lane have gone quiet once again. Store owners and employees will be holding their breath, wondering if their businesses can escape the pandemic’s death knell for a second time.