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Gift shop owner ‘very grateful’ for support of local people and landlord during Covid-19 pandemic
The owner of Uclassy gift shop in Ely, Emily Chen, says she is “very grateful” for the support she has received from local people and her landlord during the Covid-19 pandemic. Picture: BEN JOLLEY - Credit: Archant
The owner of an Ely gift shop says she is “very grateful” for the support she has received from local people and her landlord during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Uclassy gift shop, which has been a fixture of the High Street Passage for four-and-a-half-years, remained closed for four months as a result of the coronavirus lockdown.
But Emily Chen said since then, things have been “really good - we’ve had lots of support from local people.
“It’s been quite busy tourists-wise, too, maybe because people can’t travel abroad so easily.”
She however said that “when the weather changed, it blew my customers away”.
Receiving a grant from the government, then, was “very helpful” in keeping the business afloat.
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She added that, personally, she is “very grateful to my landlord as he waived three months of rent.
“It’s also very personal for me and I feel quite emotional about it.”
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She said she is also “very grateful and appreciative” of those who have supported her business.
“Some of them have said they only come to Ely once a year and they make a point of popping into my shop especially.
“To hear that makes me feel happy, it makes me feel complete.”
As for the future, she’s uncertain “because my shop really relies on tourists as well as locals.
“VisitEly would usually organise lots of different events and activities, but obviously they are limited now.”
