An NBR staffer has a friend who owns an Auckland firm that sells secondhand shop fittings (these days via Trade Me) which has made some tidy money over the years but which has been a real bellwether of the economy.Over the past year, the owner kept saying
An NBR staffer has a friend who owns an Auckland firm that sells secondhand shop fittings (these days via Trade Me) which has made some tidy money over the years but which has been a real bellwether of the economy.
Over the past year, the owner kept saying that times were awfully hard and that no one was buying or selling.
She has owned the business for about 18 years and the staffer can remember the last recessions she complained about in the same way.
But just as with the last time and the time before, her firm has seen the end of the recession first – she reports two of the best weeks of sales she has had for more than a year and her warehouse is now nearly empty.
Based on how her firm managed in the last two recessions, that means about six weeks from now retailers will start to see their customers trickle back in. Roll on prosperity!
