AFAMILY-OWNED furniture store has re-opened in the month of its 30th birthday with the help of a £200,000 coronavirus funding package from Royal Bank of Scotland.
Chrysties Furnishing Centre, based in Hawick in the Borders, has welcomed its first customers since March following the implementation of guidelines and restrictions to keep staff and customers safe.
Founded by Bob Chrystie in 1990, Chrysties, which employs 26 people, is one of many businesses which has been badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. However,a CBILS loan package from RBS has allowed it to re-open.
The funding has enabled the company to retain all staff members, who had been placed on the Government’s furlough initiative, and prepare for a swift return to trading.
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Chrysties fully re-opened to the public following an inspection by Trading Standards Scotland.
To ensure staff and customer safety, the business sourced personal protective equipment (PPE) from a local manufacturer, invested in staff training on the safety measures being put in place, and introduced s in sanitisation stations throughout
the store. However, plans to celebrate the milestone anniversary of the business have been postponed until next year.
Founder Chrystie said: “We’ve always been a bricks and mortar facility – it’s so important for our customers to come and see things in person and you can’t really replicate that online.
“It was tough to close for the past few months – it must have been the first time I had a Saturday off in decades! We’re happy to have been able to re-open so quickly. The funding process with Royal Bank of Scotland was seamless, and everything was wrapped up in a matter of days. Their support was vital in helping us to keep local jobs safe and also helped to fund the purchase of PPE equipment we required to resume trading.”
Kenny White, commercial relationship manager at Royal Bank of Scotland, said: “We’ve been with Chrysties since the beginning, and it’s been great to help them go from strength to strength.”
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