On Halloween twenty twenty, Boris Johnson put the entirety of the UK population into a fright when he announced a new lockdown for the UK. This includes, unfortunately, restaurants, hairdressers, and any unessential shops. Now more than ever coming together to support members of your community is monumentally important. Businesses on a whole are inevitably going to suffer. But there are a few ways that we, as members of the public, can help keep them afloat.
Order Takeaway
Now any university student is partial to a takeaway, they can be both the easy option for nights where the thought of cooking is more dreadful than the cost of a dominos and a nice treat to reward yourself after hours of labouring over your computer screen. But now, since shops are closing their doors to customers wishing to dine in, ordering takeaway may be their only option to stay alive.
Restaurants in the local area that you can consider buying takeaway from include, Subway (which, if you’re a student living on campus, will deliver straight to your halls) and Spitroast Ormskirk (which are currently offering online orders – use code TAKEOUT10 for 10% off your order!) amongst others. So if you’re feeling even just slightly inclined to order a takeaway, doing so can be a great help to any businesses struggling to pay wages.
Also, something else to be aware of is services such as Uber eats and Deliveroo, which make the delivery service much more effective. Ormskirk now has McDonalds on Uber eats!
Leave Good Reviews
Bit of an obvious one, but leaving reviews whether that be on Trip Advisor or Yelp or anything of the sort, can be a great way to encourage others to partake in supporting your local businesses especially if your income doesn’t allow you to regularly order takeaways.
So if you’ve had a past experience that you think is worth mentioning or one of your favourites are operating on a solely takeaway/delivery basis, then giving them a shoutout on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or even just letting them know personally can be a great asset to both their customer base and their morale.
Shopping Online
Everyone has a favourite shop they like to frequent, but now that stores are closing, many of those shops are going to have to rely solely on their online presence to survive. Because of this, buying directly off of retailers websites instead of through the likes of Amazon can be a great way to support local shops.
Spread the word
Perhaps the best thing you can do to support local businesses is to spread the word. If you’ve discovered a hidden gem on the Ubereats app or have discovered an excellent local business through their online platform, spreading the word whether that be online or in person, can be a great way to make a customer base boom.
As I’ve previously mentioned, Yelp, Instagram and Twitter can be excellent ways to do this. Now more than ever a sense of community can be a safety blanket to many of us feeling the impact Covid has had on all of our lives. But there’s still hope for those of you worrying about your wages, and still hope for anyone wanting to help support local businesses. I hope these help in any way, and remember to SPREAD THE WORD! (it’s free).
