If there’s one thing Kay Harris knows, it’s that you can’t beat a pair of good slippers.
And she should know, it’s that product that helped the Nelson Sheepskin Shop through the pandemic despite usually having a high proportion of its takings come from tourists.
Harris has worked for the shop, through all its various sites and owners, since 1968, starting out as a machinist.
Today, there are no machines in the shop owned by Mi Woollies, but Harris is still there, behind the counter as a manager.
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To many, the Bridge St shop looks like a tourist shop, with souvenirs and knick-knacks on display, but Harris said she hadn’t replenished the magnet stands in two years.
“We went for two years of possibly not selling a key ring or a magnet.”
Instead, it’s the classic sheepskin products – and particularly the slippers – that kept the doors open while Covid-19 kept the tourists away.
Martin De Ruyter/Stuff
Kay Harris has worked at the Nelson Sheepskin Shop for more than 50 years.
“It isn’t totally reliant on tourists, and I think that’s been our saving grace … it’s because we do cater to the locals as well.”
She was grateful that customers didn’t forget them or buy online and instead kept buying local.
“We remained successful because we still provided the locals with products they needed.”
She puts the enduring popularity of sheepskin slippers down to the quality, the fact they are hard wearing, and just the cosiness.
“There’s something about getting home from work in the winter when you’re cold and slipping your feet into a pair of sheepskin slippers. It’s like your feet give a sigh of relief.
Kay Harris, at the back, works making sheepskin products at the Nelson Sheepskin Shop.
“There’s never been a decline in their popularity.”
While the shop had come a long way from its early days selling sheepskin goods made on the premises, Harris said she was glad she was still in the business, even if she missed the days working at the machines with fluff all over the floor.
She admits not many people would stay with the same business for 50 years, but she loves her job.
“I like talking to people. It’s a great business to be part of.”
Martin De Ruyter/Stuff
Despite a reliance on tourists, loyal locals helped keep the doors open through the pandemic.
