Business owners at Westfield Bondi Junction have spoken out to issue an appeal to the community as they fight to keep their doors open following the stabbing attack that rocked Sydney.
The once-busy shopping center remains a ghost town after the April 13 attack, even though with increased security it has “never been safer.”
Five women and a Westfield security guard were killed in the attack carried out by troubled gunman Joel Cauchi, 40, who was later shot dead by heroic police officer Amy Scott.
Bill Mohana, owner of Hair Royale, Vinny Jovanovski of GloBar, and Michael Dunkley and Nan Kamhom, who run Luxe Bar Café, said businesses are struggling almost a fortnight after the attack.
They say that for Bondi to recover, locals should not be afraid to return to their normal lives.
Traders say Westfield Bondi Junction ‘has never been safer’ two weeks after six people were stabbed to death
Business owners fear they will struggle to keep their doors open unless shoppers return to Westfield Bondi Junction. In the photo, the center abandoned when it reopened its doors last week.
Dunkley, who led the clients and his wife to a safe room before helping chase the killer, said he understood people were shocked but the tenants were suffering a second blow.
‘It’s literally empty. “I should be pumping, it’s school holidays, there are movies, kids should be running everywhere, I should be alive,” she said. The Sydney Morning Herald.
Apart from the small crowds concentrated mainly in supermarkets, Bondi Junction remains eerily empty two weeks after the attack and with the normally bustling food court deserted.
Dunkley said his business Luxe Bar Café has lost about $20,000 in wasted stock and is losing money on rent and bills every day that shoppers stay away.
Hairdresser Mohana of Hair Royale said the rent, about $5,000 a week, was a big concern and she doesn’t know how much longer she can stay open.
“No one comes in. Before we were busy, we worked all day… now there are no women,” he told the publication.
“We want mothers and families to understand that it is safe to return to Bondi now – please come back because, to be honest, we won’t be able to last much longer.”
Nan Kemhom and Michael Dunkley of Westfield Bondi Junction’s Luxe Bar Café are worried they will not be able to stay in business as people avoid the area after the stabbing attack.
Hair Royale owner Bill Mohana and GloBar’s Vinny Jovanovski said high rents downtown were crippling as customers stayed away.
Westfield security guards now have stab vests and the police presence patrolling the center has been stepped up.
As well as support from the public, shop owners also asked for additional help from Westfield and the NSW Government.
The mall reopened six days after the stabbing.
A spokesman for Westfield’s owners, Scentre Group, said almost all businesses in the shopping center had reopened.
But some like Chanel, outside of which one of the attacks occurred, remain closed.
“As we announced last week, we are providing financial and non-financial support to all Westfield Bondi business partners during this very difficult period,” a Scentre spokesperson said.
“This includes our decision to waive rent between April 13 and April 19.”
Healthy restaurant GloBar should be full during school holidays, but now it’s empty
Five women and a Westfield security guard were stabbed to death at Westfield Bondi Junction. More than a dozen others were injured.
NSW Small Business Minister Steve Kamper said the government has offered free mental health support services and training to affected businesses.
He added that the government has also encouraged locals to “support local small businesses that have been affected by this tragedy.”
New mom Ashlee Good, 38, bride-to-be Dawn Singleton, 25, mother-of-two Jade Young, 47, Pikria Darchia, 55, Chinese national Yixuan Cheng, 27, and security guard Faraz Tahir, 30 years old.
Twelve other people were also injured, including Good’s nine-month-old daughter Harriet, who has since been released from hospital.