It has just been a matter of weeks since local businesses in Melbourne were able to open their doors after a three month Stage-3 lockdown. This week some parts of the city have been plunged back into that world amid news of another spike of COVID-19 cases in parts of the city.
“This time, they’ve crushed us,” Mr Theologos Karanikolas of Theo’s Cakes at Keilor Park told Neos Kosmos.
His business is continuing to offer takeaway, however Mr Karanikolas is uncertain of what the future will bring. “We’ve not shut down, but – the way things are – I’m not sure how long we’ll last. The police visits have scared people and they don’t approach us. Who will risk a $1,500 fine to eat a sweet?”
John Mousaferiadis said a large number of Red Engine Cafes and Kiosks which had recently started reopening and were now operating at 20 per cent capacity had to be closed again when the Victoria state government ordered a Stage-3 shutdown measures in 10 post code areas of Melbourne’s west and north west.
The Stage 3 measures mean that residents can only leave their homes for four reasons: to go to the shops for supplies; for exercise for caregiving; and for study or work if these cannot be done from home.
Of the 40 Red Engine kiosks that had re-opened three weeks ago with the easing of COVID-19 measures , Mr Mousaferiadis said about half had to be shut down again on Thursday.
“Hundreds of staff are out of work who do not qualify for JobKeeper,” he said. “Those that are open are running at 20 per cent of their capacity.”
To emphasise the point, he said that the volumes of passengers passing through Southern Cross Station, where he operates 94 vending machines, had fallen from 300,000 people a day to under 30,000 a day.
On Saturday he is set to reopen the Java Cafe in post code 3013 in Yarraville which is just 500m from Postcode 3012 which is one of the 10 areas where the state government has this week reimposed a full shutdown.”
“There will be a limited re-opening tomorrow just to create some activity in the area particularly as the Sun Theatre is set to reopen on Saturday. It will give the staff something to do.
“We are concerned that the areas that are affected by the lockdown may not comply so that more areas go into (Stage 3) lockdown,” Mr Mousaferiadis said.
READ MORE: Victoria doesn’t exclude the possibility of more lockdowns
Mr Mousaferiadis, who also runs the iconic Pelican’s Landing in Williamstown, said that the $5000 offered by the Andrews’ government to support businesses affected by the lockdown was a help but hardly covered the expenses many will face.
“When we closed in March, we lost $30,000 in food and stock alone. The $5,000 would hardly cover electricity costs,” he said.
In Moonee Ponds, John Rerakis of Philhellene Provincial Cuisine, in Postcode 3039, is just 200m from Postcode 3038 which has come under renewed lockdown measures. And while it has been a relief not face the restrictions of his near neighbours he said that there has been a reduction in business.
“We have had group cancellations because some of the people to attend would have come from the affected areas. We have had wakes, baptisms, communions being rescheduled.
“We just have to sit tight and hope it goes away sooner rather than later,” he said.
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In Postcode 3038, at Taylor’s Lakes, Barrister Emmanuel Kefalas of Aberdeen Lawyers said that original lockdown had long prepared the company to operate effectively in a COVID-19 environment thanks to video links and teleconferencing.
“There is the question of whether a legal office is an essential service but the courts are considered essential and we are part of the court system,” he said.
Much of the work of the courts has been conducted through video-conferencing platforms such as Zoom.
“Our business had been operating to full capacity but we are doing a lot of work from home. At lockdown, we adapted to working from home. In fact the majority of Melbourne is working from home.
He said clients had become accustomed to the new arrangements but it was a problem when it came to getting wills and probate documents witnessed. He said however that the state law associations had provided guidelines for such circumstances.
Mr Kefalas said that his firm dealt with family law matters and had noted there had been an increase in calls to counselling services during the lockdown period.
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Eleni’s Kitchen in Yarravile Vic 3013 has also noted a drop in bookings. Eleftheria Amanatidis said there had been 20 cancellations since the lockdown was announced earlier this week. Her business is just a few hundred metres from Postcode 3012 which has gone into lockdown.
The focus for now has been a change of emphasis again to promoting collections and upping deliveries.
“During the big lockdown, we kept our staff and had them doing deliveries. We made special trays for customers to freeze and cook later or they were ready to eat. We were concerned about the food keeping fresh but we made sure the quality remained good,” said Ms Amanatidis.
Con Siecris the owner of Stan Cash a home appliances outlet in Brooklyn which is one of the areas falling under the renewed lockdown restrictions said that he had strictly adhered to all the hygiene and lockdown requirements. He said that many businesses could well go under if these measures continued.
He said that the state government grant of $5,000 was not enough and at some point the government would seek to recover the money from businesses that were hurting from such a long period of time.
He added that once the restrictions were lifted many had ignored the advice of the experts with the result that the situation was back to where it was when the measures were first introduced.
He said some needed some strict guidance from government to finally understand the right way to behave in the current crisis.