Melbourne’s cafes, pubs and retail to reopen from Wednesday

The wait is over for Melbourne’s retailers and hospitality venues, with the State Government on Monday announcing a major easing of coronavirus lockdown restrictions.

Shops, restaurants, pubs and cafes will be able to open from 11.59pm on Tuesday, October 27 after Premier Daniel Andrews announced significant changes to the state’s current rules.

Beauty services will also reopen on Wednesday, provided a mask can be worn, while a raft of other changes will also occur both this week and in the coming weeks, including the removal of the 25km travel limit and border between metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria on November 8.

The long-awaited changes come after hundreds of COVID-19 test results overnight confirmed the virus’ outbreak in Melbourne’s northern suburbs had been contained, with no new cases recorded in the previous 24-hour period for the first time since June 9.

Under the changes, hospitality venues will be able to serve a maximum of 20 people, seated indoors, with 10 people per space. A maximum of 50 people will be allowed for outdoor dining, subject to spacing rules of one person per two square metres.

Affected businesses will stage a ‘dark opening’ tomorrow, with staff allowed to attend in order to make the business ready for trading on Wednesday.

The four reasons allowed for Melburnians leaving home will also be removed.

Mr Andrews thanked Victorians for weathering a long and very challenging lockdown period.

“Now is the time to congratulate every single Victorian for staying the course,” he said.

“Fundamentally, this belongs to every single Victorian, every single Victorian who has followed the rules, stayed the course.”

Outdoor community sport for children younger than 18 will also recommence in metropolitan Melbourne, while outdoor non-contact sport for adults will also kick off.

But gyms and fitness studios have been left out of the latest lifting of restrictions and will be forced to wait until the next phase of reopening on November 8 to reopen. Initially, a maximum of 20 people will be allowed in a gym space, with one person per eight square metres.

Hospitality venues will also be permitted to increase their patrons on November 8, with up to 40 people indoors and 10 people per space, while the outdoor maximum will be 70 people with one person per two square metres.

REA Group chief economist Nerida Conisbee said it was overwhelmingly good news for the retail sector that it was finally able to open up.

“It’s fantastic news. There will be some long-lasting damage and that will be problematic, but I expect we will see a big spike in retail spending in Victoria in November,” Conisbee said.

“That’s what happens when people come out of lockdown. People haven’t been spending much money, so they will start to spend more.”

Conisbee said Melbourne’s CBD was the area facing the strongest headwinds, with tens of thousands of workers remaining at home, while retail strips that have experienced increasing levels of vacancy throughout COVID may also struggle to attract patronage.

“The CBD is the area that’s going to have the biggest challenges getting people back in,”

“Retail precincts rely on being ‘full’, because it does look pretty dire when you have high vacancy.

“There are some retail types that have done extremely well – in particular supermarkets and large format retailing – but once things open up we’ll start to see a recovery in a lot of other areas.”