The reality of bushfire recovery is often a long and arduous road, paved with blood, sweat and tears, something Narelle and Chris Cooper know all too well.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Coopers ran a small leather boutique called South Coast Leather in the village of Cobargo on the Far South Coast, but their shopfront burnt down in the 2019/2020 Black Summer bushfires.
"We lost 100 per cent of our stock, so there was nothing stored elsewhere or kept at home for a rainy day or anything like that, anything to do with the business was at the business," Narelle said.
"It was a substantial loss, but people lost their houses and people lost their lives, so it's all relative when you put it into perspective.
"In saying that, many of the businesses that were there had been there a long time so a lot of our life was wrapped up around those businesses, so they are big losses."
Although they've started developing their e-commerce abilities, Ms Cooper's main priority has been assisting in the main street rebuild project and Mr Cooper has been busy working as a carpenter, assisting many with rebuilding their homes.
Ms Cooper has stepped up as secretary-treasurer of the Cobargo-Quaama Business Recovery Group Inc. and as a board member for the Cobargo Community Development Corporation Limited.
She said her main focus remains helping the younger entrepreneurs from the main street of Cobargo to re-establish themselves.
Ms Cooper said she misses having her store, the customers, and being a part of that "village vibe". She had been involved with the store since 1996, first as an employee and then took over as the owner in 2001.
Although she never had intentions to close down the store before the fires, being in her sixties she has reduced capacity to start over from scratch.
"I'm definitely at the end of my career time and I think it's more important to promote and push forward the younger entrepreneurs that are in Cobargo, which we are very lucky to have.
"I would rather see effort go into the promotion of them to recover the economy of Cobargo, because they'll be there for the long term, whereas some of us older ones will still be there, but on a more condensed scale."
READ ALSO:
The Coopers have not thrown in the towel though.
They took advantage of a lot of assistance programs, such the REWiRE business program, offered after the fires to small businesses in the area.
"We were a bit slow to get online, we took some time to consider what we were going to do," she said.
"We also suffered property damage at our own personal home, we didn't lose the house but we lost all our fences, stables, and there was a lot of damage to the property, so that was our immediate problem."
Although they had plans to create an online store hadn't yet had the chance before the fires hit, but with help from a web designer they were able to launch a website dedicated to a few key products with an emphasis on Australian made products.
They had always made their own leather belts and the belts were one of the first products they could start making and selling again.
They tried out online platforms like Spend With Us and Buy From The Bush, but found their own stand-alone website would be the best approach to focus on.
"The online would be very difficult to match the shop, but you never know, it's early days, so I won't say never, never, never, but I do see that we will probably rely on a few different avenues, whereas before we just had the one avenue which was the shop."
She said ecommerce has not kept up with the shop. Partly because the shop's stock load was more varied, but also because she no longer had that direct interaction with customers.
"Winning people's confidence online is probably harder than face-to-face because get a feel for people when you're talking to them directly.
"The online site is very different to the shop because you haven't got the customer in front of you, you have to convince people with an image and a description of your product, rather than demonstrate it to them and let them touch and feel it.
"Online you've got to bring your credibility across which is not always easy, so we're learning how to adjust language to the online space," she said.
The main street rebuild has just received their funds as part of the Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund (BLERF) and Ms Cooper said she was looking forward to being a part of the project.
"South Coast Leather looks forward to returning to Cobargo main street in some form once the rebuild is completed," Ms Cooper said.
She said they would probably not have their own shopfront but instead looked forward to finding a way to collaborate with other shop owners in some capacity.