A.P. Jones: Celebrating, even though we're still down on 2010

Cape Town, W. Cape, SA - It was the hottest June in three decades (so we are told?) and one should not expect to be “breaking records” when we all have a shop full of winter goods. Despite all of this, June started a slight upswing and we were up on 2021.
      July 2022 took us by surprise. The Cape weather could not have been better for us . It was cold and wet, which is perfect for winter trading. We sold knitwear, ladies boots, sheepskin slippers, spencers and all of the regular winter accessories like beanies, scarves and umbrellas. We were considerably up on July 2021 and my staff arrived for the party. I am a lucky man.
      Our store is traditionally on winter sale from the last Friday in July until the 31 August each year. This also did not let us down.
      We are definitely trading slightly better than expected. The cash flow eased up a bit and made for “less stressful” creditor payments at end August. The late winter weather played its part in clearing winter goods, which is a huge bonus. I managed to give my staff a slight increase for the first time in two years, but am not yet ready to take on any newcomers.
      The legislation around the removing of masks had an instant affect on trade.
      Sadly, and realistically, we are still roughly 30% down on 2010!