Eateries at a once bustling Auckland CBD food court have been forced to close down for good as Covid-19 restrictions continue to hit the industry hard.
The Skyworld Global Food Court, located under Event Cinemas on Queen Street, once hosted a variety of cuisines from around the world, servicing hungry shoppers and moviegoers enjoying a day out in the CBD.
However, most eateries there now sit empty, with two lockdowns in recent months seeing customers yet to return.
The owner of one of the four remaining eateries in the food court told 1 NEWS they only recently started their business before the pandemic hit.
They say no rent relief has been offered and are unsure how much longer they can operate.
"There are no customers, most of the others [businesses] have had to close," they said.
Auckland Business Chamber CEO Michael Barnett today said only 29 per cent of businesses in the Auckland area had been operating at 100 per cent over the past week.
There were 26 per cent of businesses who reported operating at 75 per cent and another 21 per cent operating at 50 per cent.
The survey was based on the business' own perception of what "normal" is and included several factors including if they had to physically distance.
Meanwhile, Barnett said uncertainty over what the alert level criteria means was making it more difficult.
"I think the business perspective is today businesses would prefer to stay at Level 2 to be told what are the conditions to take us to Level 1."
He said the rules kept changing, especially with new criteria on "Level 2.5".
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern this afternoon announced Auckland will remain at Alert Level 2.5 for the time being, with a review taking place in 10 days' time on September 14.
Additional reporting on this story by Rebecca Moore.
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