The current wave of COVID-19 is wreaking havoc on Canberra’s business sector, with many facing staff shortages, short-term closures, and declining trade.

Businesses in hospitality, retail, tourism, and fitness are facing temporary closures or operating short staffed if employees either contract COVID or get tested amid long queues and supply shortages.

Canberra Business Chamber CEO, Graham Catt, told Canberra Daily it’s mainly small businesses in those customer-facing sectors that are feeling the pinch.

“It’s pretty common across the board, even those who aren’t necessarily closing down are finding themselves in a position where they have to operate short staffed,” he said.

High daily case numbers and a desire to minimise risk are seeing more Canberrans stay at home, contributing to a downturn in trade at a time of year that would typically be busy.

“That’s hitting the bottom line when you are open,” Mr Catt said. “It’s an unfortunate way to start the year; it’s really, hopefully, having the community be conscious of that’s the situation businesses find themselves in and supporting them where they can.”

After closing their doors nearly two years ago, live music venue Transit Bar had spent months gearing up to relaunch at a new site in Bailey’s Arcade in Civic. The bar, once situated underneath the Canberra City youth hostel on Akuna Street, closed in May 2020.

Having secured and fitted out their new space, they were set to ring in the new year with a soft launch in early January, and a series of gigs from local performers in the lead up to an official reopening on 4 February.

However, the owners were forced to cancel their soft launch just one day prior to the 7 January gig after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19.

“Our journey to re-open our doors once again gives us another obstacle,” they said.

“After taking as many precautions and safety measures to ensure we could start trading and be ready for our soft launches, we have unfortunately had a member of our staff test positive for Covid.”

Their series of launch gigs featuring local performers has all been postponed, with the next performance listed for 1 February.

Other hospitality businesses are provisionally closing in the face of unsustainable trading conditions under current health restrictions.

On Monday 17 January, Mooseheads bar and nightclub in the city announced they would be closing this weekend.

“These restrictions have made trading unsustainable for hospitality venues like ours and our thoughts are with our 70-plus staff who will receive zero support from the government,” they wrote in a statement.

Canberra nightclub, Fiction, also announced earlier this month they would be closing their doors indefinitely.

“This isn’t the way we wanted to start 2022, but the impact of the current restrictions on the hospitality and music industry hasn’t made it viable for us to open our doors,” they wrote in a statement.

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