Liz Lawson, managing director of Lawsons (with three homeware and kitchenware stores in Totnes, Ivybridge and Tavistock) was one of The Sunday Times’ interviewees (January 2), discussing Christmas trade for independent retailers.
Reflecting on how the emergence of the Omicron variant prompted consumers to get their shopping done, Liz reported: “It made people get on with their Christmas shopping. We saw a bit of a surge online and in store in the middle of December once the government started mumbling about restrictions coming in.”
She also described “really good local support” for the shops, with footfall in smaller towns holding up when shopper numbers were falling in the larger destinations of Plymouth and Exeter.
The Sunday Times article also highlighted the continuing trend for home cooking and baking, as well as ‘the popularity of brands such as Le Creuset, Denby and KitchenAid,’ which helped to keep Lawsons’ Christmas sales figures close to pre-pandemic 2019 levels.
Top: Lawsons in Tavistock.
