Where is the Sales Revenue?

I walked past Sim Siang Choon Building along Balestier Road yesterday. The shop at the corner of Sim Siang Choon Building that sells car audio equipment - Audiophile Sound Craft – was empty. The familiar audio shop was gone, to my surprise. The shop had been there for as long I can remember. It is really sad.

I guess Audiophile Sound Craft is a casualty of Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic that ravages many small shop businesses. The retail brick-and-mortar shops are having a hard time with many people cutting back on spending during this crisis. Look around your neighbourhood and you will find shops for rent or for sale.

Despite the support on wages by the government and rental waivers and rebates, these businesses cannot survive on a longer-term basis. The cost part of the Income Statement could be reduced but without sales revenue there is no way of holding on to the business. They will be bleeding cash everyday without an end to Covid-19.

This is reality. When you are a shop owner, most of you will be worrying about sales. People are tightening their belts to ride over this pandemic. They will be buying less on non-essential goods.

We read and hear information at a macro level in the news. We do not feel as much as those business owners who face survival each day. The economic gloom is stifling. This is what it means to be in economic recession (forecast contraction of 7.0% to 5.0% for this year). Talk to any taxi driver. I can guarantee that they will tell you that they had fewer passengers these days.