Coronavirus Covid-19: Auckland CBD Business Owners Question Spending Data

By Katie Todd for RNZ

The latest Treasury measure on card spending and traffic volumes in Auckland City suggests activity has rebounded to a strength last seen at alert level 1, but Anne Mazer is among the owners of Downtown stores that say their patch has been uncomfortably quiet.

Mazer owns Great Kiwi Yarns and was immensely disappointed with yesterday’s alert level extension.

“Compared to level 1, it is a big difference. We hardly have anyone entering the store. It is a disaster for us that it continues to operate at 2.5,” he said.

On the street, a jewelry store owner echoed his words, and a bar manager said he was registering about half the daily number of customers he saw in July.

Their slow business stories appeared to undermine Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s words yesterday describing “good increases in economic activity since the start of Level 2.5 in Auckland.”

“Payment and traffic data in the latest weekly Treasury economic update showed that economic activity in the Auckland region and the country rebounded to levels experienced below alert level one after Auckland exited level 3.” Ardern said.

“This shows that we have improved to accommodate local purchasing and logistics and keep our economy moving, ultimately outperforming countries that decided not to adopt an phase-out strategy.”

Marbecks Record Store owner in Queens Arcade, Roger Marbeck, described the lack of customers as “disturbing.”

“The streets are empty. It’s not a good scene out there. I’m not quite sure which city the prime minister has been looking at, but it’s certainly not the center of Auckland,” he said.

Breaking Point for Hospitality in CBD – CEO

The executive director of the Auckland city center business association, Heart of the City, Viv Beck, said that because the Treasury figures generalized the entire Auckland region, they did not take into account the “perfect storm” in the city ​​center.

He said the shops, bars, restaurants and services that typically account for 20 percent of the region’s revenue were starting to hit a breaking point.

“Large-scale events are canceled and we have a significant amount of people working from home; 130,000 people a day normally come downtown. So we have businesses that are set up to serve them and those customers stay away.”

It was unclear exactly where in Auckland people were spending the money, but hotel companies in the Sandringham suburb told RNZ it was not in their stores.

Barwarchi Indian restaurant manager Srinivas Jakkas hasn’t been able to seat as many customers as usual due to social distancing requirements, but said fewer people were walking through the door due to a general reluctance to spend money “while the future It is uncertain”.

“After the second wave, a lot of people got scared, so they don’t come from their homes. A lot of people are getting take out or doing Uber [Eats]. “

It was the same situation down the road for Food Inn restaurant owner Shoeb Saiyad, who would like the government to subsidize people’s food bills, as schemes that have helped boost economies abroad.

“As in the UK they have done with restaurants there. Where the government pays a percentage, and people go out, basically making the economy work … something like that. Because the confidence of this area and the spending of the people is less. “

Heart of the City said it would like local government and central government to work together to provide incentives for people to enter the city center, including ongoing discounts for public transportation.

I also wanted specific support for difficult situations specifically for core companies, to maintain them for the remainder of alert level 2.5.