Coffs Harbour business owner Abir Saad calls for more support amid NSW lockdown

“You wake up in the morning and you pray that today you will make a few hundred dollars so you can survive the month.”

“We are trying to survive. That is the whole idea – surviving. It is just exhausting.”

When Abir Saad talks from behind the counter at her Coffs Harbour charcoal chicken shop, she could be channelling the feelings of countless small businesses in the city. 

But with the worsening Covid-19 situation, Ms Saad is trying to remain upbeat, despite days ago being shocked as the entire state was sent into lockdown with just two-hours notice.

The owner of Rozana Charcoal Chicken on Harbour Drive was stocked up for the week’s trade, but by noon on Tuesday just one customer had walked through the doors.

Abir Saad at Rozana Charcoal Chicken in Coffs Harbour has remained open for takeaway after regional NSW was sent into lockdown on Saturday. Photo: Tim Jarrett / Coffs Coast Advocate

“You wake up in the morning and you pray that today you will make a few hundred dollars so you can survive the month,” she said. “That’s how we are living.”

It has been a “hectic” few years for Ms Saad who opened the shop in 2019 only for the region to be rocked by bushfires. Since then, accessing government support has been a struggle.

She said having to compare this year’s takings to 2020 was problematic and trying to find a way to get financial relief felt like “running around in circles”.

“You put (in) all your money, all your effort, all your energy and you try and try hard and then they tell you there is lot of support for small business but not every small business (gets support),” Ms Saad said.

“We need more to be done, we need more help, we need our voices to be heard. Nobody is listening to us.”

When the lockdowns were announced, local businesswoman Nikki Williams said her first thought was for all the hospitality businesses who were suddenly overstocked.

Small business owner Nikki Williams says there is a different feeling this year as the State is plunged into another lockdown. The owner of The Salon, in Coffs Harbour said people needed to recognise the effort small business owners were putting in to adapt their businesses.

In an effort to help them move it, she began a Facebook group aimed at promoting small businesses like Ms Saad’s which were still trading during the lockdown.

Ms Williams said it didn’t matter where the business was located, or whether it was part of a larger chain, the important thing was that people supported them by shopping locally.

But she acknowledged that the “Covid-fatigue” was very real among the small business community.

“It’s pretty tough and (this lockdown) feels a lot different,” she said. “We are not sure how long it is going to last.”

Compounding the problem was that this year there was no JobKeeper and the public mood had shifted.

“People are a bit a bit more scared this year and there are lot more people staying at home, a lot more strictly than they were last time.”

Marty Elliot and Maureen Burgess from Fork Knows Plant Based Kitchen & Preservery on Moonee St Coffs Harbour. They have been heartened by the number of people who have swung in behind small businesses during the lockdown. Photo: Tim Jarrett

Fork Knows Plant Based Kitchen & Preservery also continues to trade despite the empty streets but owners Maureen Burgess and Marty Elliot were heartened by the effort people – and other businesses – were going to help each other out.

Ms Burgess acknowledged that as a creative cook it was hard to go from presenting a meal on a plate to putting it in a paper bag but said there was a real sense of community at the moment.

“We have had people put in specific orders that they might not have done before – just to help out,” she said.

“People are actually banding together and sharing posts and communicating in broader sense – businesses are talking about what they can do to help (each other).”