Westfield Fountain Gate shoppers say they are fed-up with restrictions as boredom bites
With hundreds of Westfield outlets now open for business, cooped-up Melburnians are flocking to shopping centres as boredom bites, with shoppers at Fountain Gate saying they are desperate “to get out of the house”.
South East
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Westfield Fountain Gate shoppers are ignoring stay-at-home orders, saying they are desperate “to get out of the house”.
The Leader visited Westfield Fountain Gate on Monday and saw shoppers queuing at retail outlets including Pandora and Sketchers.
More than 100 Fountain gate stores are open with Kmart, Rebel Sport and Lorna Jane among those drawing large numbers.
Other stores including Myer, Dotti, Sussan, Mecca, Jacqui E and T2 were still shut.
Every store has a notice at the front outlining its social distancing rules and customer capacity but there were no screens or any other protective measures up in shops that Leader visited.
There are social distancing stickers dotted throughout the centre.
On Monday, DHHS figures revealed 143 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Victoria that may have been acquired through community transmission.
A fashion retail worker, who reopened her store yesterday, said several customers had told her they’d “had enough” of restrictions and were desperate to get out of the house.
“The centre is so busy for a Monday, a lot of customers have told me they are shopping here to have something to do,” she said.
“It’s positive that we’re making sales to recoup our losses, but I still think people still need keep social distancing measures in mind,” she said.
Shopper Christina, who visited the centre to buy essential items, said she was “surprised” to see so many people.
“I think people are bored and restless so there getting out of the house just to do something,” she said.
The Leader also visited Chadstone shopping centre, Southland and Dandenong Plaza and saw larger crowds than previous weeks.
At Chadstone's’s luxury retailer hall, there was a queue of shoppers at Chanel lining up to get in and many browsing in Louis Vuitton.
But Associate Professor Dr Deb Friedman, a senior lecturer at Deakin University and infectious disease consultant at Barwon Health, said it was important for people to remain vigilant and take social distancing measures seriously.
“We know that 10 per cent of COVID-19 cases in Victoria are unlinked, so we don’t know where they acquired the infection from, which means there’s ongoing community transmission,” Dr Friedman said.
“This means that physical distancing is not always being adhered to and it’s the most effective weapon that we have against ongoing transmission of this infection.
“While every retailer has really tried to mitigate strict measures, it’s imperfect and public transport will also be another challenge.”
A Victoria Police spokesman said as directed by the Chief Health Officer, there were only four reasons why people should leave their home.
He said these reasons included to get essential goods and services, for care and other compassionate reasons, to work or study, or to exercise.
“Outside of these reasons, people need to stay home. We understand it is frustrating, but we are asking the community to use common sense as the health and safety of every Victorian needs to be the number one priority at this time,” the spokesman said.
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A Scentre Group spokeswoman last week said all 37 Westfield centres in Australia were open and trading.
“Approximately 42 per cent of our stores are open across Australia and more retailers are talking to us about reopening,” she said.
“We will continue to follow government health advice and measures in our centres as we have done right through the pandemic.”
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