FEARS OMICRON WAVE FINAL STRAW FOR CBD TRADERS
CBD traders fear the Omicron wave might be the nail in the coffin after years struggling to stay afloat amid the Covid pandemic.
The streets are quiet and normally full car parks are sitting empty as city workers remain at home and shoppers steer clear.
CHNO cafe owners Tim Girvan and Jay Mccracken are worried about the future of their business if things do not turn around soon.
Low patronage with city workers still out of the office and a lack of clarity about what legislation might change were key concerns.
He estimated sales were down about 50 per cent compared with last year and said plans to upgrade the cafe kitchen were on hold.
Mr Mccracken said a large number of offices in the CBD remained on skeleton staff.
“We are not getting that foot traffic so everything has been put on pause,” he said.
“We just can’t justify spending that money at the moment, it might be money down the drain.”
The cafe was shut for about two weeks over Christmas after the pair were classed as close contacts and Mr Mccracken said this had had a big impact.
He wants more transparency and clarity about changes to health mandates and legislation
“It keep changing, there is no transparency, no consistency,” he said.
“It is playing with our livelihoods. We are all suffering … the city has been dead – it has been for years and Covid has made it 10 fold.”
Adding to the pair’s struggle, Mr Girvan said the store didn’t qualify for most government support as it had not been open long enough to meet the loss of income criteria.
“There is nothing for small business that we can get our hands on,” he said.
To make ends meet they’ve scaled back their advertising and had stood down staff.
“If this continues for another one to two months I think we will definitely close the doors for good,” he said.
“Either that or we will scale right back to a coffee cart or see if we can invest in other ventures.
“It is not viable to continue doing what we are doing at the moment.”