Tonga businesses better prepared to open for Saturday crowds [1]
Friday, April 1, 2022 - 18:20
By Eleanor Gee
Tongatapu businesses have been busy restocking and refilling goods and products today to be better able to meet customer demand tomorrow, Saturday, when they open their doors between 5:00am and 8:00pm during the current lockdown due to COVID-19.
Business operator, Francis Cowley told Matangi Tonga today that there had been “no issues at all getting to work and I can see a lot of other business vehicles around on the road, which is great!”.
“I think tomorrow all businesses will be better prepared nationwide.”
Government advised on Wednesday, that businesses were permitted to prepare on Friday, ahead of Saturday’s busy shopping day.
Tonga Water at the Small Industries Centre has been busy preparing to have lots of drinking water available for customers tomorrow.
Owner of Tonga Water, Tapu Panuve said they had asked and received permits to work this week in preparation for Saturday.
“This is to ensure we don't run out of water.”
Last week there was no preparations allowed. There were long queues after the first week of lockdown, and they had to close for a few hours to refill the filtered water tanks.
Tongatapu and Vava’u have been in lockdown for the past two weeks due to COVID-19 spreading in the community but some businesses had struggled to prepare and keep up with customer demand during the one day shopping allowed last Saturday.
"The biggest challenge for a service business like ours was the short notice - at the press conference Friday midday announcing opening Saturday," said Francis Cowley.
"A business such as ours going from closing to opening requires at least a full day’s work in advance to be able to prepare and bake products so that is fresh for consumers,” he stressed.
“Everything has a learning curve and lessons from previous week was giving all an opportunity to be prepared this time round, which is what we have been given and thankful for that.”
Banks
Meanwhile, financial services, such as the Bank of South Pacific (BSP) are planning to open earlier tomorrow at 7:30am.
Bank South Pacific Tonga Business Manager Salesi Fineanganofo said most of the customers that queued for banking services last Saturday were looking to receive Moneygram funds sent from family and friends overseas.
“In addition to these customers queueing up for physical cash, we took over 250 Moneygram direct deposits into BSP accounts via phone / email.”
BSP is accepting phone and online Monegram transactions throughout the week.
Salesi said they encouraged customers to get in early but unfortunately not all customers were able to receive their funds earlier “many receive on the day and others whilst queueing”.
The 7;30 am start tomorrow is “to try and cater for our customers to get them on their way”.
National restrictions have eased with businesses now permitted to operate two extra days a week, on Tuesday and Thursday.
Download the updated restrictions below: