For most of us, the past 18+ months have been among the most challenging, confusing, scary, and tumultuous of times.
I am not alone in saying COVID-19 has profoundly changed my life – both at work and at home.
So how have we coped with the pandemic? By taking one step at a time, learning from our mistakes, and doing better.
On 23 March 2020 Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced Stage 1 restrictions due to the worsening spread of COVID-19.
Stage 1 restrictions meant our little Karalee-based café was restricted to takeaways and home deliveries.
While I supported the decision, it was still a huge blow to hear the Prime Minister explain what the restrictions would mean.
What were the impacts for Chapters? A significant drop in income and we had to lay off many of our people.
Fast forward to today and there’s still a lot of uncertainty and trepidation about the virus and what impacts it could have on our café. Thankfully its returned to almost business as usual.
Despite the occasional snap lockdown we are welcoming people to come in-store and enjoy breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And we are still selling books.
Could things be better? Of course, they could. Until a majority of the population gets their vaccines people who come in still need to check in with the Check In Qld app, practice social distancing, and good hygiene.
Could things be worse? We have already experienced what worse looks like.
COVID-19 continues to create challenges for our little business, and I know we are not alone in feeling the effects of it.
A big thank you must go to the Karalee and Ipswich community for continuing to support shops like Chapters.
Let continue to keep each other safe, listen to the latest health advice, and get through this together.