Roger and Sola Touma have had to get creative with their business as new research warns many others across the City of Sydney face a "really grim" future.Studio Shirts lost about 90 per cent of its trade during lockdownThe Toumas are in prime position as the only tailors on Macquarie Street, located next to the Law Courts, metres from Martin Place and down the road from State Parliament.
"In reality, there is no tailoring at the moment, and I don't know if things will go back to normal, given almost everyone is working from home on a permanent basis," Mr Touma said."There is no one walking past, there are no visitors — and also most people simply don't feel safe enough to return to the city."
But Lord Mayor Clover Moore said she expected the number of businesses forced to close to be much higher.How Melbourne's stage 4 restrictions compare to the world's toughest lockdowns George Street barber Fedl Babka has been unable to reinvent his business —and took a double whammy when the pandemic hit, having already put up with months of light rail construction."My business is affected because yeah the office workers aren't coming back and the tourists are gone because of the borders shutting," Mr Babka said.More than 2,000 office workers used to fill the building opposite his shop, but only about 100 have returned since the lockdown was lifted.
Fascinating stories about the new foreign ethnincities on my land apart from the usual foreign British criminals and their descendants like PM ScoMo!