Small businesses owners in Greenwich are increasingly concerned about the effect of the new coronavirus variant on the Christmas shopping season.

Stall-owners in Greenwich Market say they are wary after last year’s lockdown just days before Christmas.

Dee Rose, who sells organic skincare products, said she had mixed feelings. “I am double sided – Christmas is always busy, people want a lot of gifts, we’ve been getting ready…The other side is uncertainty”.

Though business at her stall is booming, Rose wonders if shoppers are rushing out in anticipation of another lockdown. She expressed worry about the coming weeks: “Are we going to be at home with a bunch of stock we can’t sell?”

She added that she will stay open all of next week to capitalise on the current rush.

Patrick Hyde, who has run The Fudge Patch confectionery shop for three-and-a-half years, says the pandemic has cast a shadow over the business for much of the time he has been in Greenwich Market.

“Logistically I’m fine – emotionally I’m quite exhausted,” he said as he stirred up another batch of fudge.

Hyde added that he was banking on a good Christmas to keep his business afloat. “I want it to happen because I want to make money. We don’t get Christmas? The whole year is gone.”

Record stall proprietor Norman, who declined to give his surname, expressed cautious optimism. “A slight sense of trepidation, foreboding, but I’ve got to stay positive”.

He spoke from behind crates of vinyl records about community spirit and how it is lifted at Christmas: “As a trader you got to hope that people still want to come out…You don’t get the same spirit as if you’re out around people with the sound of Christmas tickling your eardrums.”

Many stall-holders held out the same sort of quiet hope. Alex Petrescu, who sells leather products, said: “It’s quiet, I’m okay…Last year we lose one Christmas, but I think this year is going to be nice.”

He added that he wasn’t worried about the new coronavirus variant, omicron: “Even if it’s going to be something, I have to be ready.”

But candle-maker Sue Jenkins said she was worried about online shopping and the competition it poses to market stalls. It’s a sentiment that’s increasingly shared by stall-holders in small markets.

Jenkins added that government payouts were the only reason she survived previous lockdowns.

In March, The Guardian newspaper reported that London had suffered a £51.4 billion drop in economic activity in the year since the very first lockdown.

Restrictions were put back in place by prime minister Boris Johnson’s government on November 30 in response to reports of a new “variant of concern”, omicron, as well as rising Covid cases overall.

With 50 shops closing every day in the first half of 2021, it’s no surprise that Greenwich Market small businesses are worried about yet more Covid restrictions.

By December 2, Greenwich’s infection rate had risen to 316.9 per 100,000 people.