Retailers say they are being left behind in Victoria's lockdown reopening because of a 'double standard' by the government.
Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed on Sunday Victoria would emerge from stay-at-home order at 11:59pm on Thursday after the state reached the 70 per cent fully-vaccinated milestone.
While Melburnians can head to cafes and pubs for a beer and a bite and up to 10 people can visit a home, people are still barred from non-essential shops.
While shopping malls in other cities are gearing up for Christmas, those in Melbourne - already having endured the longest lockdown in the country - must wait weeks longer until the 80 per cent mark is reached.
The delay is bound to add extra chaos to the Christmas period, with families given just weeks to prepare.
Victorian Premier Dan Andrews (pictured) has announced the state's lockdown will lift five days early
Victoria recorded another 1,903 Covid cases on Monday, as well as seven more deaths.
'I'm delighted that we're opening up on Thursday but I'm not sure retail is different from hospitality from a virus transmission perspective,' Accent Group CFO Matthew Durban told news.com.au.
'Very frustrating that there hasn't been a clear articulation about why. It's just a bit random [and] it puts Christmas demand into a shorter period,' he said.
Accent Group owns store brands such as Hype, Platypus, and the Athlete's Foot.
'We've had zero cases of Covid transmission at our 200 stores in NSW. We had tens of thousand of people through NSW last week,' he said.
But retailers have complained non-essential shops are still not allowed to only - missing out on weeks of peak pre-Christmas shopping (pictured Melbourne in July before the latest lockdown)
The group runs 150 stores in Victoria and employs about 1,500 staff which are all prevented from returning to work.
Paul Zahra, CEO of the Australian Retailers Association, agreed saying he was 'disappointed' people would not be able to visit a store in shopping mall from Friday when they are allowed to get a haircut or sit down in a restaurant.
He added October was a crucial month for retailers leading into the peak Christmas shopping season.
He said while business can operate outdoors under the rules, many of the premises were inside shopping malls and moving large quantities of stock and checkout system outdoors was not feasible.
Paul Guerra from the Victorian Chamber Chief Executive put the figure at about half of members who could viably trade outdoors with the other half forced to stay
