Economic Impact of Covid-19 felt keenly

Yesterday, I walked past two HDB shops in my neighbourhood. One is 7-Eleven Convenience shop and the other is Dream Café at Block 163 Toa Payoh. They were next to each other. One common thing about them was that these shops decided to close their businesses. I frequented 7-Eleven often and occasionally patronised at Dream Café.

It saddened me when I saw all empty white steel shelves in 7-Eleven and a dismantled shop of Dream Café. This is closer to home and more impactful than when I saw more shops in Toa Payoh Mall offering for rent.

Retail outlets are shuttering for good and I believe this was exacerbated because of the economic impact of Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. You will never know what retail shop owners are going through to keep themselves in business. The cash flow and loss of revenue because of Circuit Breaker lockdown are simply bad for retail business. Sure there are rental rebates, Job Support Scheme, loan schemes, but without revenue business cannot survive for long.

Even with the opening up of the economy for these retail businesses, people are unwilling to spend. They rather save up because their take-home pays are cut or in case they are retrenched.

Headline news is broad brush of a bad situation. Numbers touted are mere statistical numbers at a high level. It means nothing until one is hit by Covid-19. Then it becomes personal.