Gunnedah business owners expanding, opening new doors through COVID-19

Gunnedah Chamber of Commerce president Juliana McArthur said it was great to see so many businesses prospering during these tough times.

"I think COVID in many ways has been a benefit as well as a downside, and we've got ... many in this town of people willing to have a go, expand, invest in their customers, invest in themselves, and fortunately Gunnedah is a great place to be to allow you to do that," Mrs McArthur said.

"With the regional advisory group, I talk to so many people all around the North East and the North West, and they all wish they were here. People in Inverell, Moree, Walcha, Armidale, say the same thing: 'we wish we were in Gunnedah'."

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Goodness and Gracious and The Verdict are two small businesses that have expanded this year, and despite the tough year, it's only looking up for their owners.

Goodness and Gracious owner Susie Martin said she was "worn out, but not complaining", with COVID-19 forcing her and her team to work the hardest they've ever worked.

They've got the Christmas shop back again, which has taken over the old Fogarty Foto's space.

"We never had a website before and now we do, and I think it has expanded our business and especially our online exposure and presence to the point now where our in-store is getting so much busier," Ms Martin said.

"I think Gunnedah is a town who's really lucky; we have agriculture, we have mining, so it's such an abundance of industries and it's centrally located between so much."

It's not the end of the road for their hard work, either.

"In February we're going to close down for another week, and we will then be expanding back through the back room, and it'll tie all our shops together so you'll be able to come in and do a full circle of our shop.

"So the Christmas stuff will go away, and we'll reorganise all our ladies and children's wear, and our ranges will grow ... but we'll also have much more room, which we need."

Meanwhile, at The Verdict, they've taken over one of JobLink Plus' old rooms across the mall's hallway, which allows for more people to enjoy a visit to the cafe under the current restrictions.

"With COVID, it's too hard to fit people in these days ... and it's good for people to sit down and enjoy themselves, you don't want them to feel like they have to get up and leave, so it's nice for them to have a more comfortable spot to sit and a bit more room to move," cafe owner Tracey Geddes said.

"We were looking at hiring it out as a meeting room for companies or if businesses want to hire it out for the day for corporate events and we can cater and they can have the whole space for themselves."

Managed by Kate owner, Kate Johnson, said she had seen a big change in the town, with so many new businesses popping up.

She said she was "so proud" to see so many people taking the risk to go out alone in their business ventures recently, such as Caity Byrnes with Blush & Bloom Beauty, Keira Gifford with Raw Confetti, and Josh Cameron with Rome Mortgage Services.

"Given we're a regional town, I think everyone is bouncing back [during the pandemic] with quite a strong game which is really nice to see so there's still quite a lot of people going out into different industries," Ms Johnson said.

"Rather than working for people, like there's quite a few beauticians opening up, a lot of hairdressers I've noticed, and even some in the real estate sector which can be hard when you're a sole trader rather than a big corporation.

"I think that the mines have remained strong which is a really good financial backbone for our town so we're kind of lucky in that regard."