VANA MEMBER PROFILE – NewsXpress Tatura
138 Hogan Street, Tatura, VIC 3616
Store Owners:
Jenny & John Lovel
Years as a newsagent: 16
Products Sold:
Giftware, Toys, Greeting Cards, Games, Stationary, Lotto, Newspapers, Magazines, Collectables
Since the Covid restrictions started in March this year, Jenny & John Lovel learnt they were fortunate to be able to continue to trade as normal.
They have been trying to keep stock up to date with what people require, such as hand sanitiser, masks, jigsaw puzzles, kids educational activity products and stationery for home schooling, to name but a few.
Initially, newsXpress Tatura had a lot of success with marketing their home delivered custom made activity bags, mainly aimed at primary and pre-school aged children. These were very popular when the first lockdown started, particularly with grandparents who gifted these to their grandchildren.
newsXpress Tatura have also been making up care packs for kids and the elderly in hospitals and nursing homes in the area. The care packs include products such as candles, soaps, and magazines to help the community during COVID-19.
During the first lockdown newsXpress Tatura also promoted their helium balloons and invited locals to nominate someone who was having a birthday so they could deliver complimentary surprise birthday balloons free of charge.
They saw the first lockdown as an opportunity to showcase their business, particularly to locals that found themselves working from home, some who previously did not work in their town. Many of these people didn’t realise what their small town offered in its shopping strip.
Jenny & John have also worked hard on their Lotto offering with good customer service and friendly banter that people enjoy in these serious times. The initial fear that they all may have to close during lockdown and lose so many of their lotto customers to online was a real worry. Another reason to be thankful to VANA for their lobbying.
Mr Lovel said “We all have to keep the foot on the pedal and come out the other side of this pandemic with hopefully a stronger business, whose goods and services are entrenched in the minds of our loyal customers and the new customers we have met over the past 7 months.”
