The past couple of years haven’t been easy for Nicole Papasavas, owner of iconic Greek restaurant Stalactites in Melbourne’s CBD.
“Even the recession of the 90s wasn’t as bad,” says Ms Papasavas, referring to the challenges the 43-year-old restaurant has faced since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stalactites occupies a prime spot in Melbourne CBD’s Greek precinct.
While it has so far managed to stay in business by transforming itself into a take-away joint every time the city went into a lockdown, Ms Papasavas is concerned about its future.
More importantly, Ms Papasavas is concerned about the future of the Melbourne CBD.
“When we reopened earlier this year after one of the lockdowns, we returned to COVID zero, so people weren’t as scared to be out,” says Ms Papasavas.
“We were so busy. We couldn’t even take bookings because we had lines of people waiting to get into the restaurant,” she says.
“But this time, the traffic and trade have been a lot slower. We’re having 1000-plus cases a day and people are hesitating to come back.”
It’s a similar story in Sydney’s CBD.
Tennis players Petros Tsitsipas, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Michail Pervolarakis and Marcos Kalovelonis at Melbourne's Stalactites restaurant earlier this year. Source: Supplied
While Sydney city may have reopened for business, there’s little traffic in the CBD, particularly in multicultural strongholds such as Chinatown.
“Chinatown really heavily relies on international tourists and students. And the absence of both continues to severely impact the area,” says Alan Chu, owner of Mother Chu’s Taiwanese Gourmet restaurant in Sydney’s Chinatown.
“Even the locals don’t come to the city anymore - they’re working from home,” says Mr Chu.
As a result of the crowds not returning, iconic Chinese restaurant Golden Century went into administration in August.
While a group of creditors has voted to save the restaurant from permanent closure, another yum cha institution Marigold recently announced it’ll close down in December this year.
“COVID-19 has most adversely impacted the CBDs in Melbourne and Sydney,” says demographer and social commentator Mark McCrindle.
“And because these areas are the most culturally diverse parts of Australia - more than half of the populations in these CBDs speak a language other than English at home - multicultural communities in our cities are really suffering,” says Mr McCrindle.
In an effort to save these precincts from haemorrhaging any further, state and local governments in both the cities have launched a spate of new incentives to entice visitors.
Alan Chu, owner of Mother Chu’s Taiwanese Gourmet restaurant in Sydney’s Chinatown. Source: Supplied
Earlier this week, the Victorian government and the City of Melbourne launched a $44 million package, which will allow patrons eating out in the CBD between Monday and Thursday to claim back up to 30 per cent of their bill from 15 November.
In addition to supporting alfresco dining, waiving permit fees and investing in new infrastructure, the package also aims to bolster Melbourne’s events calendar by creating new attractions such as floating art installations on the Yarra and a Christmas night market at Queen Victoria Market.
Meanwhile in the NSW capital, the City of Sydney has announced a $5 million infrastructure investment in the Chinatown precinct, along with a $10 million upgrade of Belmore Park near Central station.
But would these initiatives be enough to save the CBDs?
“Yes,” says Mr McCrindle. “A lot of these payments and vouchers and other incentives will encourage people back into the CBDs”.
“This is not the first time our city centres have suffered so badly. We saw it after the GFC as the financial quarters of Sydney and Melbourne hollowed out. We saw it in the prior recessions of the early 90s. Each time, the cities bounced back and they will recover this time, too.”
But while the vouchers will help in the short term, in order for the CBDs to really thrive, Mr McCrindle says, they will have to reinvent themselves.
Empty streets in the Sydney CBD during the lockdown months. Source: Moment RF
“We are going to see more people working from home and less people purely coming to the CBD for work.”
“So the cities need to become cultural hubs, with museums, art galleries, destination retail hubs and premium residential places so they’re more than just workplaces.”
While that won’t happen overnight, Ms Papasavas is hopeful people in Sydney and Melbourne, and interstate visitors will make an effort to support these precincts.
“There seems to be a misconception among diners that all the restaurants are full,” she says.
“But that’s not really the case. Many restaurants in the CBD have empty tables and are waiting for people to return.”
