By Laura Michell
Small business owners who have once again been forced to close their doors once again say the return to lockdown has been “very hard”.
With all of metropolitan Melbourne now under stage three restrictions, gyms, play centres and beauty services have closed while cafes and restaurants have returned to takeaway and delivery services only.
Craigieburn’s Thi Nguyen, who opened Guilty Bite & Dessert Bar at the start of the year, said the lockdowns had taken a toll.
When her cafe reopened to customers on June 1 following the easing of restrictions, Ms Nguyen employed eight people. The second lockdown has forced her to let all but one of them go.
“The most frustrating thing about it was we don’t get notice … with cafes, you have to prepare for the weekend so we order stuff in and then get told we have to shut down the next day and we are stuck with all this stock. That is hard and it has happened twice now,” she said.
Ms Nguyen said she didn’t feel like there had been enough support for small businesses during the pandemic.
“We can’t stay closed forever. We have got to pay the rent and bills as well, that doesn’t stop.”
Body Fit Training’s Matt and Melissa Georgeades opened their Craigieburn studio in February – just a few weeks before gyms were first ordered to close their doors. They reopened the studio, along with their Airport West site, eight days before being ordered to close again on July 2.
Mr Georgeades said both lockdowns had impacted the business.
“We don’t own the buildings we use, so we have landlords who want to be paid, bills to pay to and staff to pay,” he said.
“Not many of our staff were eligible for JobKeeper as we weren’t’ open long enough… we have been trying to find them some hours but that is coming out of our own pocket.“
