Coronavirus fears devastating Chinatown traders, with several closing
Panic over coronavirus is devastating business in Adelaide’s Chinatown, forcing shops to close – with one councillor begging customers to return, saying he’s never seen anything like it.
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Fear of coronavirus is wreaking financial havoc on Adelaide’s Chinatown.
Several shops have already shut down and more expected to close in the coming days.
Traders who rely mostly on Chinese customers are reporting downturns of up to 80 per cent with those who have mixed clientele down 30 to 40 per cent, says Adelaide City Councillor Simon Hou.
The crippling situation has sparked a public plea to by him to “come back in – we need you”.
Mr Hou raised the issue with federal trade minister Simon Birmingham on Friday afternoon and will move a motion at an ACC meeting on Tuesday night for affected traders to be given rate relief and other support.
“Chinatown is shutting down – I have never seen anything like this,” Mr Hou said.
He has asked the Gouger St Traders Association to prepare a report of exactly what hardships businesses are experiencing, including a comprehensive list of which ones have temporarily closed and which are likely to shut up shop this week.
Mr Hou says many people have stopped coming to the Chinatown since news broke of confirmed cases of coronavirus in SA, more than two weeks ago.
Popular, decades-old inner city Chinese restaurant Ding Hao is feeling the heat with manager Jenny Zhang estimating patronage is down 50 per cent.
Ms Zhang, who has operated the Cantonese eatery for more than 20 years, says if things don’t soon return to normal, she will be forced to put off some of her 15 staff members.
“It is very bad … people have been scared to come out and many have stopped wanting to go to a Chinese restaurant,” she said.
“We are usually very busy at lunchtime and dinner, especially on Saturday and Sunday, we are always are fully packed and there are people waiting, we’ll turn over the tables as many as three times per sitting.
“However, last Sunday was very quiet – I have never seen a Sunday like it before in which we had seats empty.
“In all the different situations we have been through, we’ve seen nothing like this … even in 2003 with SARS it didn’t impact us (like this is) … even local Chinese people are saying, ‘don’t come out, it is better to stay home’.”
Ms Zhang said there was no reason to stop eating out at restaurants such as hers.
“We are safe, there is no need to be scared, we have no one working here who has travelled overseas to China, if people were to come back from overseas to work, we would ask them to stay away for 14 days,” she said.
Adelaide couple Shelaye Boothey and Richard Kruschel are regulars at Ding Hao and say they were taken stunned by the lack of customers last weekend.
“There is usually a line up out the door on the weekend … we were so shocked when we went on Sunday as there were about a third of the usual diners, the entire length of Gouger Street was eerily quiet,” Ms Boothey said.
The Sunday Mail got mixed reactions from business owners in Chinatown with many not wanting to comment.
A Moonta St trader agreed business was “a quieter than normal”, pointing to the strip in front of his eatery and saying there were less customers than usual.
Meanwhile, the doors of a Grote St eatery were witnessed being closed at 12.21pm.
However, a Gouger St restaurateur says her business, frequented mostly by local professionals, hasn’t been impacted by the coronavirus scare.
“We’ve seen a steady decline in trade in this area over the past couple of years but many things are contributing to that – the economy, roadworks and more recently the bushfires … these days it is just unpredictable,” she said.
