SMALL businesses have been corned by rising inflation rates into making some difficult decisions that may have repercussions for their clientele.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Households and local businesses are both facing the consequences as the cost of fuel, energy, and goods simultaneously increase across the state and country.
Tarran McCallum opened Sage Hair Studio a year before the spread of COVID-19 and has successfully overcome the obstacles thrown at her throughout the pandemic.
In other news:
But, with a family of her own, absorbing the growing costs of running her business has become impractical, leaving the young business owner with no other choice but to raise the cost of her services by five dollars.
"It was a pretty hard decision," she said.
"As a business, you do try to absorb as much of those costs as possible, but with inflation, everything is going up, petrol, electricity... my products have gone up."
Ms McCallum explained that as the cost of living has inflated, the rate of cancellations and postponed appointments has been noteworthy.
As a "luxury" service industry, she is conscious that the need to put food on the table will almost definitely be prioritised over a hair appointment.
However, her recent decrease in sales has resulted in her cancelling her GST registration.
"There's such a close-knit community within the service industry and they're all saying the exact same thing... the last-minute cancellations and people not letting us know in advance... it all adds up," she said.
"Although we definitely sympathise because we're people too, we're feeling the pinch personally."
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Download our app from the Apple Store or Google Play
- Bookmark dailyadvertiser.com.au
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters