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Despite eased COVID-19 restrictions which allows a 5-person limit for diners, interviewed hawkers in the CBD reported no improvement or a worsening of their business.
Business remains sluggish for hawker centres at CBD despite five-person limit for diners
While the government has eased its COVID-19 rules such that up to five persons are allowed to dine together at eateries starting Monday (12 July), some hawkers at three hawker centres within the Central Business District (CBD) said business continues to be slow or even worse, reported TODAY.
In fact, only one out of seven hawkers interviewed by TODAY at Amoy Street Food Centre, Maxwell Food Centre near Chinatown and Lau Pa Sat in Raffles Quay registered an improvement in business on Monday.
All the hawkers expect business to remain affected as long as work-from-home is the default ruling since they heavily rely on the weekday office crowd.
The Government’s COVID-19 task force had raised the limit for people eating out together at food centres, as well as food-and-beverage establishments, to five from two previously.
The two-person limit had been enforced since 21 June, while dining-in was banned from 16 May to 20 June, with eating places only allowed to do takeaways or deliveries.
TODAY saw plenty of empty tables when it visited Lau Pa Sat at about 1.15pm on Monday, with most of the patrons eating alone or in pairs. Only a handful of diners were in groups bigger than two.
At Amoy Street Food Centre, crowds were also thin at around 3pm, with most of the stalls already closed.
There were also plenty of empty tables at Maxwell Food Centre at around 5pm, even as many stalls remained open.
Elma Lau, who owns Swan City Noodle House at Amoy Street Food Centre, shared that business was worse as compared to last Monday, noting that she made $300 per day last week compared to just $207 when she closed her stall on 12 July.
“We are dependent on the office crowd, so there’s not been much improvement (since last week),” the 27-year-old told TODAY in Mandarin.
Melanni Quiambao, a Filipino cuisine stall owner at Lau Pa Sat, saw no difference in business from last week.
“In this area, it will be the same because people now work from home. We cater mostly to the office crowd, so if work-from-home is the default, then there is no difference,” said the 46-year-old as quoted by TODAY.
Quiambao added that business at her stall fell 70% from before the start of the heightened alert period in mid-May, although it improved by around 10% when dining-in for two persons was allowed from 21 June.
Zilch Ng, the owner of hawker stall Lagoon In A Bowl at Amoy Street Food Centre, said business on Monday was worse compared to the last two weeks.
“The five-person limit helps restaurants more, but for hawkers in the CBD, it’s still as bad. (Things) won’t change as long as work-from-home is the default,” he said.
He added that business had been “progressively dropping”, with sales on Monday falling 50% from last Monday.
Vincent Wong, who owns Spice & Rice at Amoy Street Food Centre, said he does not open the stall on Mondays, adding that he does not expect sales to improve as long as work-from-home is the default.
“We used to earn about $450 a day before the heightened alert, but now we are earning about $250 a day. During the dining-in ban, it was only about $150 a day,” he told TODAY.
“People working from home has been very difficult for hawkers, and the sentiment in the market is that if this goes on indefinitely, many of us, myself included, might consider closing for good.”
Liakath Ali, who works at SMH Hot & Cold Drinks at Maxwell Food Centre, observed no change in business from last week.
“We rely on the office crowd, so business will be slow as long as the office crowd doesn’t return,” said the 60-year-old.
However, one hawker stall at Lau Pa Sat saw better sales on Monday.
Yatin, a worker at Mint@31 Vegetarian Indian Restaurant, revealed that business at the stall had been “considered good, better than last week”, although he was not able to offer any specific sales figures.
Meanwhile, Nixon Lim, a risk analyst who eats at Lau Pa Sat about thrice a week, did not see any change in the number of patrons, saying it could be because it was only the first day of the rule change.
Buyukturk Ali Bora, a retailer eating at Lau Pa Sat at about 2.30pm, said the hawker centre’s human traffic was lower than usual.
“It could be because today is a day of transition (from the limit of two persons to five persons),” he told TODAY.
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Cheryl Chiew, Digital Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this story, email: cheryl@propertyguru.com.sg