But Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan doubled down on her government’s policy to allow its 300,000 public servants to work from home twice a week.Reduced foot traffic has been compounded by cost-of-living pressures, which have hit consumer confidence.
Despite being in a prime CBD location, it had been losing about $10,000 a month.She has one city store remaining, on Spencer Street, but the business is focused more on online sales through its Ascot Vale head office.I don’t think the city ever fully recovered from lockdowns. The latest ARA small retail index, released on Monday, found that 51 per cent of small to medium-sized retailers hiked prices in the past six months, while 37 per cent reduced their head counts.