Langerhans Pharmacy: Better than expected

By Kim Dreyer-Tré, director. 1 store, comfort footwear specialist.
Windhoek – We finished renovating towards the end of 2019, and the building and expansion were unfortunately disruptive for staff and customers alike. So we are very grateful that there has been an overall growth relative to December 2019.
        Green Cross sales were down, as like most businesses they have experienced supply chain issues, and the unavailability and delay in summer styles have influenced sales. And school shoe sales were very depressed due to home schooling.
         Froggies sales are slightly better, but some styles had to be cancelled due to insufficient leather, which has also had a dampening effect. And orders for summer placed in July were only delivered at the end of November. It starts getting warm in Namibia towards the end of August already. So we had plenty of customers looking for new styles, which were not yet available.
         There has been a shift to more affordable lines, with customers more focused on their budgets.
         Belt sales are down, and we think people have been trying to make items last a little longer before dipping into their pockets for a new item.
         Overall, fortunately, it better than we expected.
        We have looked at margins on products, increased ranges, reviewed our layout, bumped up our marketing, extended our trading hours, and tried our best to keep staff motivated and positive. If someone came up with an idea, and it seemed practical, we have literally given it a go. Our team has worked very hard to be innovative, improve service, knowledge and delivery.
        We are eternally hopeful that it will be better than last January, but only time will tell.