Small businesses' sales fell 18.4% in Auckland in September

Small businesses' sales fell 18.4% in Auckland in September
Staff reporters
Sales through small businesses nationwide fell 7.1% in September compared with the same month last year, driven by an 18.4% annual decline in Auckland.The nation's largest city has been in lockdown since mid-August.This is the largest annual drop in sales since April 2020, the first full month of the country's first covid lockdown, when sales fell 43.9%, said Craig Hudson, Xero's head of New Zealand and the Pacific Islands."On the whole, the small business sector held up better in this nationwide lockdown than the first lockdow...