Tails and whiskers lands feet first with start of level three

With the start of level three lockdown Tails and Whiskers Charity Shop reopened its doors to the public.

The Third Street store sells second-hand items to raise funds for several animal organisations in Gauteng.

Sharon Blackwell, founder of the store, said when the lockdown was first announced staff at the store panicked.

“We just started packing items from the store into our car so we could take them home. Our plan was to continue selling to the community, but on our Facebook page.”

Sharon said the store focused on selling books, puzzles and other interactive items to keep community members busy at home.

“Before level three started we were working from about 10am to 11pm on a good day and 1am on a busy day. All the items bought by community members were stored at our home and with the lifting of restrictions they can now make an appointment to collect them.”

Sharon said when level five was extended by two weeks it was an emotional time for her.

“I just thought that we couldn’t leave our home to get more items to sell online to raise funds.”

Despite her concern, several community members made donations of animal food, which staff could distribute to their beneficiaries.

Sharon said in order to keep the strong connection the staff have with the shoppers they would often send messages to regular customers, checking in on them and making sure they were all right.

During level four and five, Sharon said she would regularly get messages from police officers who were patrolling the area, informing her that the store was secure.

“The messages from the officers informed us of the status of the store, they would often say they had waved at us through the cameras which was something special. The first day of level three, community members, some with blankets, were already waiting outside our store practising social distancing.

“We later looked at the video footage of the cameras and the first person had arrived at 5.40am, knowing that we would only be open at 10.30am.”

Sharon said the support from the community blew the staff away.

At the moment the store is only open on a Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday between 10.30am and 3pm.

Only four community members are allowed in the store at a time and shoppers have to wear masks.

Sharon said to further enforce the regulations the store was divided into four sections, no more than one shopper is allowed in each section.

Although Sharon described May as a good month for the beneficiaries she said April was much harder on them.

With the hopes of further assisting beneficiary organisations, the charity store started a back a buddy campaign to help some of their clients who may have lost their jobs pay their vet bills.

“Our aim at the store is to continue helping the charities, but keeping our staff and shoppers as healthy as possible. We have to take things one day at a time and suck it up.”

To attract more customers, Sharon highlighted that the store is considering creating an open-aired shopping area behind the store where an additional six shoppers can browse items.

Visit the store’s Facebook page for more information.