Riot victim Dawsons ‘sickened’
GOOD wishes, support and offers of help from members of the public and customers is helping musical instruments retailer Dawsons overcome ‘sickening’ theft and damage it suffered in Tuesday night’s riots.
Managing director Mark Taylor – whose wedding anniversary dinner was interrupted by news that the 11-store firm’s Manchester-based flagship had been looted -estimates losses of around £100,000 from the incident.
Picture gallery: Manchester counts the cost of riots
He told TheBusinessDesk.com: “I have no doubt we were very deliberately targeted – some of the stock we lost was not only valuable but really heavy too.
“We’ve seen the CCTV and at one stage there were between 60 and 80 looters in the shop, leaving utter devastation in their wake, including severe damage to a £6,000 grand piano.”
Dawsons, which has its head office in Warrington, lost all its guitars, portable keyboards and synthesizers.
The total bill to Greater Manchester and Merseyside after the riots this week is estimated to be more than £10m. Politicians and city leaders have asked the Government to give those small firms affected special help to get back in business.
Taylor agrees this is a necessary step: “Fortunately we have insurance, but I suspect that some people, who were maybe struggling already in a really difficult trading environment, may not have full cover, and may be forced out of business.
“I worry this trouble is going to put people off from coming into Manchester too, ” he added.
On a more positive note, he said the company and staff had been lifted by the support from the wider community: “We’ve received a lot of messages via Twitter and phone calls too, with offers of help with the clean-up, which have been great.”
