Broken Hill businesses are enjoying a post-lockdown boom with several store owners reporting some of their busiest trading ever.
Local beauty salon owner Kate Prior said her store had been swamped since reopening Monday last week and was currently at capacity.
Ms Prior said she'd had to reschedule about 640 clients in their first three weeks of reopening and that prior to the start of the pandemic, 18 months ago, they averaged about 500 clients a month.
She said she'd been running her store for eight years now and it was exciting to think how many people they might see this month.
"It's going to be big numbers," she said.
"All the girls have been great with doing extra hours and we have certainly been swamped."
Spring brings a new lease on life
Local Karyn Stuart, who owns a vintage retail store, said the past weekend had been one of the busiest she'd experienced in five years at the store.
She said when she reopened from lockdown Saturday last week there was a constant flow of people to the store.
"I probably sold 80 per cent of the new stock that I had purchased."
Ms Stuart said she hoped good visitor numbers would continue over the coming months.
"I think, as the weather warms up, people will be get out and about a lot more," she said.
"Hopefully we'll see tourists start to arrive back leading up to Christmas, catching up with family and friends.
Not all seeing immediate impact
While some local businesses have seen a big post-lockdown boost, others are still waiting for the customer numbers to climb.
The Broken Hill Small Business Association said its members had seen mixed results from their first week of trading out of lockdown.
President Dylan Stone said that of the association's 40 or so members across the far west, sole traders were doing well following an uptick in local work, but cafes and retail stores were a bit slower than usual.
He said state border closures preventing tourists coming through were costing businesses a lot of money, and that the recent postponement of the Broken Heel festival was also having an impact.
"There is a lot of concern with businesses in Broken Hill now with the Heel festival being postponed from December to March," he said.
"The idea of the Broken Heel festival bringing a bit of cash into the town in December, helping those businesses get through, isn't going to happen anymore."
