Sunday 3 July 2022 02:39 PM Why Sydney's CBD is turning into a ghost town trends now
Australia's city centres are filled with ghost office towers as people continue to work from home, devastating the small businesses left behind in the abandoned central business districts.
Hectares of city centre office space now lies vacant, with commercial office vacancy rates in double-digit figures two years after the pandemic first broke out.
And even those offices still operating are on vastly reduced capacity, with many staff only coming in two or three times a week.
Hectares of city centre office space now lie vacant with commercial office space vacancy rates in double-digit figures two years after the pandemic first broke out
Australia's city centres are filled with ghost office towers as people continue to work from home, devastating the small businesses left behind in the abandoned CBDs
But the shift in work from the CBD to the suburbs and bush has wrecked the cafes, restaurants and other mum and dad businesses set up to support city workers.
Their businesses survived through Covid on JobKeeper wage subsidies - but eight months after most Covid restrictions ended, they are now in turmoil.
'We thought it would pick up after Christmas - but that never happened,' said Sonya Gee of Martini Dry Cleaning in Sydney's glitzy Barangaroo business strip.
'Then we thought it would be after the summer holidays, but nope - then Easter, but no. Now we just accept this is how it is.'
She's had to shed her five staff in the wake of the WFH revolution, leaving just her and her husband to handle all the work.
'Our turnover has gone - it's dropped 60 to 70 per cent,' she said. 'People are only coming into the office sporadically.
'And because people aren't meeting face-to-face anymore, many of them aren't even wearing suits and shirts now - so don't need them cleaned.
'I'm not sure how much longer we can go on. We'd move to a new location if we could, but we've got a long lease.'
Sonya Gee of Martini Dry Cleaning in Sydney's glitzy Barangaroo business strip has had to shed all their staff and now just runs the business with her husband
Even those offices still operating are on vastly reduced capacity, with many staff only coming in two or three times a week.
Cafes and restaurants are also living in fear of the ghost town central business districts.
Vicky Vardis of Barangaroo's Vessel restaurant has had to axe three-quarters of her staff since the pandemic broke out, down from 11 to just four, with no hope of recovery.
She's also facing a double-whammy of rocketing food costs along with the dwindling customer base.
'We had to pay $240 for 10 kilos of green beans at the market this week,' she revealed. 'We used to pay $1 a kilo.
'I'm having to get the chefs to change all the recipes, so we don't actually lose money.'
Shorter working weeks in the city are hurting revenue.
'People are only in the office from Tuesday to Thursday now - Mondays and Fridays are dead. It's hard. Really hard. Business is down 70 per cent,' she said.
The long lockdowns in Sydney and Melbourne unchained staff from their desks and demonstrated they can still work efficiently from home.
Barangaroo's Vessel restaurant has had to axe three-quarters of their staff since the pandemic broke out, down from 11 to just 4, with no hope of recovery
Vessel's Vicky Vardis says cafes and restaurants are facing a double-whammy of rocketing food costs as well as the dwindling customer base, with some prices soaring 24-fold
In the wake of the pandemic, many offices are now virtually empty on a Friday as companies adapt to the new reality and allow professionals to work a hybrid system.
In one part of Sydney, one in five central business district offices are still vacant.
Social researcher Mark McCrindle said city centre offices in particular were more likely to stay empty as more professionals could continue working from home several days a week.
'It's the central CBDs of our cities where it's been harder to get the numbers back,' he told Daily Mail Australia.
'Even at best, we'll end up with 80 per cent of the pre-Covid occupancy in our CBD offices.'
Barber shop boss Stephen Parker is pinning his hopes on Australia following the UK's lead of dropping Covid isolation rules will spark a return to office life.
His men's hair studio in Sydney's Barangaroo has also been smashed by the WFH epidemic which has seen their turnover slashed by around two-thirds.
They've had to let all their assistants go in a bid to survive but are still holding on to the dream of a return to normality within a few months.
Barber shop boss Stephen Parker is pinning his hopes on Australia following the UK's lead of dropping Covid isolation rules will spark a return to office life
'The UK is completely back to normal now since they dropped the rules about having to isolate if you catch Covid,' said Mr Parker.
'I'm
