ECHUCA businesses have been brought to their knees.
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Again.
A third lockdown in less than 12 months has many local owners fearing for their future.
On Tuesday, February 16, Premier Daniel Andrews said Victoria was “well placed” to end the lockdown at midnight on Wednesday but would not extend on his comments.
The lack of communication has left employers frustrated and distressed.
A local restaurant owner, who wished to remain anonymous, said the snap lockdown had been “devastating and extremely stressful”.
“Since this all started and has kept going, I have been put on anti-anxiety medication and have spent multiple hours in tears, suffering stress-induced migraines; not knowing how our business or family will come out at the end of this,” she said.
“JobKeeper did save us, but with that ending in six weeks comes a lot more stress. The support we received last year from the Victorian Government was very helpful but currently we are still waiting for our licenced venue grant, which we applied for back on November 26.”
The owner said COVID-19 had forced her to restructure her business model.
And not just because of the restrictions, but to make sure she could continue to support as many of her staff as possible.
“Since resorting to a dinner-only enterprise, we have been able to keep running the business successfully because of dine-in customers,” she said.
“Generally, as an average, our Saturday trade we bring in between $7000 and $8000.
“Last Saturday we didn’t even take $1000.”
State Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh will take the plight of the twin towns to the floor of the Victorian Parliament on Wednesday, February 17, demanding to know how government plans to compensate about 100 businesses across Echuca-Moama affected by the decision.
“The toll here isn’t just about the money, although that’s bad enough,” Mr Walsh said.
“No, the very real and the rapidly growing issue of the mental wellbeing of those businesses and everyone who works in them is now fast catching up with the massive loss of income that has set such a depressing pattern for everyone involved.
“Last weekend had been looking like a long overdue and very welcome change for the besieged regional economy — Sunday was Valentine’s Day and florists, restaurants, cafés and the accommodation industry were all heavily booked for romantic celebrations and getaways.
“For many florists this weekend can match as many as three normal months, while so many in the hospitality and accommodation industries had already bought in hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of food, drink and entertainment.”
Wax On Echuca owner Joy Seymour said she was worried every day of being shut down again.
“It’s not as easy as just shutting down the salon — it’s calling clients, rescheduling and hoping they’ll come back,” she said.
“We find it hard to find people to employ because of the uncertainty of working for us and then being locked down again.
“It’s just that nervousness and being a sole trader, it’s just really, really hard.”
After the snap lockdown was announced on Friday, the salon lost all its bookings for Saturday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
“It really does impact us, we’re trying to catch up from last year as well,” Ms Seymour said.
“The hardest thing is we can’t go online — unless if we had some products to sell but it’s not like everybody needs it every day.”
After a "terrible" 2020 when the shop was closed for almost five months, business was starting to look up.
“All the locals were supporting us, so it was fantastic,” Ms Seymour said.
“We felt like we were coming back to near normal and then the shock of Friday — we really didn’t expect it.”
The Nook on High café owner Janine Pain said the lockdown was devastating.
“We were all geared up to have a busy weekend,” she said.
“All the cafés would’ve had food prepped and we had plenty of bookings on the Saturday and Sunday.
“We’re trying to use (the food) in different ways so we can cut our costs, but we don’t have JobKeeper and a lot of businesses don’t.
“It's good because we can’t have it for ever, but if this is ongoing, I don’t know what will happen.”
Now, business owners are hoping the five-day lockdown will be just that so they can get back to work.
“We were starting to cover ground getting nearly back to normal which was awesome, now with the snap decision you have to ring staff, alter the roster, it is stressful,” Ms Pain said.
“We hope it’s short-lived and back to normal on Thursday.”
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