News

Shops on long road to recovery

IT has been tough going for small businesses in Berala’s town centre.

After becoming the focus of a Covid-19 cluster just before Christmas and into January, trade has bounced back for some but the road to recovery is proving far longer for others.
Jason Aslan from the Berala Kebab House said it was better now compared with January when Berala was “a ghost town”.
He said people needed reassurance to feel safe so they could leave their homes.
A few doors down at the Hawana Bakery, Salima Mahfoud plans to make the most of the council’s decision to waive outdoor dining fees during Ramadan.
“Small businesses get hit the hardest and any support from the council or government is welcome,” she said.
“Covid affected us all, it took a while to get there but it is getting better slowly.”
Jun Melad at the Super Safe Convenience Store said while sales were still down 50-60 per cent, things were slowly picking up.
He added that the Lunar New Year lion dance organised in February by the council, brought some much needed positivity to the main street.
“It’s hard but what can we do,” he said.
Signed up to the Dine and Discover program, Jasim Alsukaini from the Babylon Restaurant said they had already received a few bookings through the scheme and had also made big changes to their menu but there was still a long way to get back to normal.
Also hoping for a boost from Dine and Discover, Mina Luk started the Lao Jie Fang Restaurant just two weeks before the start of the pandemic, and said it had been “very difficult”.