By Tania Phillips
Sales may have slowed during lockdown and their usual home consultations stopped during that time, but Impact Blinds at Narre Warren never closed or ran out of stock.
Owner Jocelyn Clarke said while they adhered to social distancing and changed their hours to 9am to 5pm weekdays (back from their usual 5.30pm closing) and 10am to 4pm Saturdays (something they will be sticking with for the winter months) the showroom room in Victor Crescent remained open.
“We have been open for over 30 years now – and we have been through recessions before – in fact we actually started during a recession,” she said of the current crisis.
Not only that, but when it looked like there might be lockdowns on the way Jocelyn and her staff ordered in extra stock to ensure that they didn’t run out. She said they were particularly careful to stock plenty of the oh-so fashionable “white on white” minimalist look going for good quality fabrics at reasonable prices for people wanting to freshen up their houses while living on tight budgets. And it was just as well because although she said things slowed down – they didn’t stop – with plenty of people using their lockdown time to work on their homes while they were unable to get out and about.
Jocelyn said what they found though was that their customers weren’t just coming from around Narre Warren but from outside their normal area as well.
During the height of the lockdown Impact Blinds was unable to offer regular in-home consultation with all customers coming into the showroom. However, customers can now book for in-home consultations. Ready-made blinds can also still be purchased from the website – something the business instituted during the lockdown so keen renovators could buy what they needed in a no contact way.
The factory/showroom at Narre Warren has more than 60 room displays demonstrating how each window treatment looks, feels and operates and customers are encouraged to bring in their house plans so they can be given an accurate costing based on requirements.
Find Impact Blinds and Curtains at 30-32 Victor Crescent, Narre Warren. Phone 9705 6366 or email info@impactblinds.com.au.
