THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT
...so as you'll all know, the last few weeks have probably been the wildest we’ve had for a very long time. On Friday 20 th March we closed the shop to the public and on Saturday 21 st March RollBack cancelled all events to the public. We also then sent our staff home to keep them safe. Within hours of closing RollBack’s doors we received plenty of messages of support; customers calling, emailing and sending us facebook messages asking if they should buy gift vouchers so RollBack still had an income.
There is a lot set up by the government and we’ll see how it all impacts on everyone in the next few months as it’ll be super hard on cash flow for most small businesses. RollBack’s monthly overheads are a struggle as running a shop comes at a sizeable cost for us. I can assure you all that no one runs a shop nowadays for profit, but instead it’s usually for the love.
Having a shop gives us an opportunity to give something back to our community. Some months we break even and others we make a loss. It’s not and never really has been about the money, it’s always been about giving the community a home and a place to express and discuss their love for their roller sports. Sadly where our shop is based in Bedford, isn’t fortunate to have an indoor skatepark so we use the money generated by the shop to upskill volunteers in efforts to hopefully get our campaign off the ground for an indoor space.
Like us, there’s many that want an indoor space sorted too, perhaps that’s why many rushed to offer to buy gift vouchers? One customer even offered to buy a £500 gift voucher! Tempting as it was, we said we would be ok as long as customers continued ordering their essentials. We are so thankful for this beautiful goodwill gesture and the many more that followed.
Over the last two weeks RollBack has become an even smaller outfit with only a couple of us doing all the jobs from packing mail orders to accounting and admin along with (trying) to answer all messages and phone support. We’ve been totally safe, isolating ourselves while we did this. We enter the building on our own and keep ourselves locked in. Any deliveries or collections are left in the doorway – keeping not just us safe but our couriers. Our couriers also keep themselves safe by knocking on your doors or ringing bells and standing back two meters when they deliver to you all. They also now take a photo of the door being opened instead of a signature, avoiding all contact. Outer packaging is also then quarantined for several days before being recycled for sending out.
Locals and valued customers from all over the UK and Europe have been supporting RollBack by buying from our online store and leaving us kind messages in the process.
Some have called for a chat placing an order and others have messaged and then placed orders online. Some have been small orders and others have been very big!!! We would just like to thank you all for your business and support thought this time and let you know that you are helping to protect not only RollBack, but our indoor skatepark campaign and our staff’s future jobs. Being a diverse shop, there is something low risk for all families during lockdown from your everyday accessories to the main items for your sports. The RollBack team can’t wait to be out again rolling properly, but we all need to stay safe while this madness passes.
We are unsure how long the shop will be partially closed for. Our bike department is accepting visits by appointment but...
we would like to say a massive thank you once again to EVERYONE for all that you’ve done and are doing to protect RollBack.
Keep the orders coming in to small independent businesses like ours and we will safely ship your purchases as soon as we can and will be here for you again on the other side.
THANK YOU.
Rob and the RollBack Team
