The Red light Covid-19 setting appears to be affecting people's spending habits with businesses in Christchurch saying the switch has had an unexpected and major impact on revenue.
Anna Green runs Belleza Boutique in the central city's The Crossing complex. She says "there's a lot less foot traffic and a lot less corporates working in the city" since the change in restrictions.
Shops are still allowed to operate in the Red traffic light setting but she says, in terms of sales "we have some good days but then the rest of the days are not. On our not-so-good days, we have got a sales decline of 60-90 per cent".
And the uncertainty at how long the country will be at the Red level is unsettling.
"This is a bit of an unknown beast in my opinion, we can't seem to get any decent indication on how long this is going to go for," Green says.
"People are just thinking about their dollars and how far they go around."
Her experience isn't an isolated one.
Leeann Watson from the Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce says "a lot of the chamber members are telling us they're around 40 per cent down on revenue" and "that almost overnight when we went into Red, they saw the drop".
"Many people are staying away, staying at home."
It's a nationwide issue, particularly in CBDs.
Greg Harford, of the Retail Association NZ says, "Customers aren't getting out and spending as much as we would normally expect them to do.
"The biggest issue we are seeing at the moment is definitely Omicron. Omicron is keeping people away from the shops but it's good for them to know that as long as they are wearing a mask it's still safe to get out and do your shopping as you normally would."
The hospitality sector also feeling the pinch.
Anup Nathu owns two Christchurch restaurants – The Permit Room and Mumbaiwala. The slowdown has meant he's now shut The Permit Room on Mondays to save costs.
He says there's less people coming into the CBD.
"You almost get the feeling that there's a fear factor to being in groups and combine those two and the flow on effect is trading."
Figures released by Worldline show there was a surge in spending nationwide in late January which was driven by the anticipated move to the Red light setting. But since then hospitality has experienced a sharp dip and core retailers have suffered slow growth.
Wordline’s press release states: "Notably, there was a marked change in overall spending around Monday, 24 January, when the national shift to the Red setting occurred under the Covid-19 Protection Framework, prompted by the spread of the Omicron variant in the community."
There are calls now for Government assistance to provide financial support.
There is currently support available for businesses if they have staff that need to isolate as a result of contracting the virus, or being a close contact of a Covid-19 case. But the wage subsidies which were offered in the past are no longer available.
Leeann Watson says, "That wage subsidy which was directly passed onto their employees was a huge hand up for businesses – not a hand out, a hand up – and covered one of their costs while they continue to meet the other costs they faced each and every week."
She would like to see similar relief offered again.
"These businesses are also facing increased costs in Red. We know that a lot of these organisations are having extra security in place, the cost of wages is rising, the cost of inflation so the costs are going up, the revenue is down and they really do need targeted financial support."
Meanwhile, Nathu says he, like many businesses, is preparing for a difficult 3-6 months ahead and "if you ever want to support a business - it's now".
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