Before Covid turned the world upside down, Marino Plagiotis’ bustling CBD cafe would be booked out on Fridays.
But now, the city is so quiet it has had no choice but to cut staff at the end of the week, and like many other small businesses in central Sydney, it’s a struggle just to make ends meet.
Mr Plagiotis, who runs the Hungry Bean Cafe on Clarence St, said news.com.au workers were avoiding the office on post-Covid Mondays and Fridays, and the trend, along with months of bad weather and ongoing public transport strikes, had taken place. they devastated small businesses.
“We have a large cafeteria with 140 chairs and we have been here for many, many years. Before the world sneezed, we’d be booked up on Wednesdays and most cafes and restaurants in the CBD would have extra staff called in on Fridays because it was the best day of the week. Now it’s the exact opposite – it’s the worst day, followed by Monday,” he said.
“People need five days a week (of earnings) not three – if it’s only three days, how do you manage the profits?
“The best most businesses are doing is just paying the bills and keeping their heads above water, I don’t think there are many who are killing it every week.”
He said the impact was so severe that many businesses had already collapsed.
“On this street alone there are six or seven coffee shops that never come back … many employers are sick of paying rent when out of 100 workers on an office floor, only five show up on a Friday,” he said.
“Others are stuck – they can’t make more money even if they want to once things get busier because they can’t hire more staff, there aren’t enough workers.”
He said some restaurants were only opening at limited capacity as they no longer had the staff to serve a full establishment and most workers were taking on additional duties as a result of staff shortages.
Companies Facing ‘Financial Ruin’
The situation is not new, with Sydney Independent MP Alex Greenwich writing to former Small Business Minister Eleni Petinos in July to ask for “urgent assistance to protect CBD small business owners from financial ruin” .
Mr Greenwich, who previously raised the same concerns with the Treasurer in January, explained that the latest wave of omicron had “spread and deepened the impacts in small
CBD businesses’, with city neighborhoods affected by ‘significantly reduced numbers of workers and visitors’.
“Several small business operators in the CBD have contacted me about significant finance
difficulties due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic,” he wrote.
“I’m told they signed commercial leases when the central business district filled with hundreds of thousands of offices and visitors, but have faced more than two years of lockdowns, work-from-home policies and fear of the community to leave that have been reduced. trade and income, but not reduced costs.”
“Small business operators who have contacted me say that the owners have just accepted
small rent reductions for very short periods, leaving them to pay the full rent despite being substantial
loss of business They say they have accumulated significant debt and are at risk of business
failure and bankruptcy.
“Business hardship grants, government rate rebates, expanded outdoor dining space and
Dine and Discover vouchers didn’t stop CBD small business owners from spiraling into debt
and I again urge you to extend government aid to protect businessmen from ruin to
Pandemic conditions are truly over.”
Unfortunately, in the weeks since this letter was first written, the situation has only worsened as workers and visitors have drifted away from the city during August as ongoing public transport strikes halt regularly the city.
Companies “will not survive”
It’s a situation Business Sydney chief executive Paul Nicolaou is all too familiar with, telling news.com.au it was a “sad” sight to walk around Sydney’s CBD on post-Covid Mondays and Fridays.
“Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are manic, but you don’t see many people on Mondays and Fridays,” he said.
“It’s quite sad to be honest – a lot of small and medium business owners are quite depressed because they rely on people coming into town Monday to Friday as they don’t open on Saturdays and Sundays.
“Cafes, restaurants, hairdressers, dry cleaners, shoe repair shops, newsstands, pharmacies, you name it, they are all struggling.
“They depend on passing trade and when people don’t come in, they really suffer.”
Nicolaou said many businesses saw earnings drop by up to 50 percent on Mondays and Fridays and there was a “100 percent” chance some would “not survive”.
“Energy bills are going up, the cost of food and drink is going up and they’re struggling to find staff,” he said.
“Big businesses like Star and Crown casinos will survive, but small business owners are struggling a lot.”
Nicolaou is now pushing for the state government, NSW’s biggest employer, to order public servants back to the office at least three to four days a week to boost foot traffic in the CBD.
He is also championing the reintroduction of the NSW government’s $25 “Thank God it’s Friday” lunch vouchers, which were halted when the Omicron variant swept the state.
He would also like to see free public transport on Fridays or Mondays for six months to jump-start the city’s economy and said work needed to be done if Sydney was to maintain its position as “Asia’s number one city and the Pacific.” .
Read related topics: Sydney