There was huge relief from stores across Canberra when the ACT government announced that the great mass of shops could reopen for face-to-face sales on Friday.
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"If feels absolutely fantastic to be opening on Friday," Greg Soulsby of Better Music said.
"It's exciting for the economy kicking into gear again," Carsten Chapman of Pushys Bikes said.
"We are very excited," Glenys Cameron of Dirty Janes said.
The rules change at 11.59pm on Thursday. Some stores, perhaps most, will open their doors to allow customers inside on the Friday.
Dirty Janes will open its doors for in-store business on Saturday. It will be closed on Friday while stall-holders are inside the Fyshwick building getting their wares in order.
Under the eased rules, there will be restrictions on numbers in a store, limiting people to one per four square meters. And masks will be obligatory.
But, unlike on the other side of the border in Queanbeyan, there will be no requirement to prove double vaccination though the QR code will remain.
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But the rules are minor compared with the effects of the lockdown which started at 5pm on August 12. The official announcement those two months ago said the lockdown would remain in place until 5pm on Thursday, August 19.
This year's regulations have been much tougher on business than last year's. Even though the pandemic was at its pre-vaccine height then, businesses weren't shut down.
A few stores dealing in essentials like food have been allowed to keep selling to in-store customers this time, but most have shut. In recent weeks, some online trading has been allowed for some.
Better Music, for example, was only recently allowed to send five staff into its large premises. Before that, even people working on the pay-roll were not initially permitted.
The five made a difference but the normal staffing is 60 people "so the stress and the strain on those five people was very very high and we could only do so much", Greg Soulsby said.
He said that every other competing music store in Australia that he knew of was allowed by the state government to keep trading online.
"In Canberra, the government made a decision not to allow any online trading," Mr Soulsby said.
All the same, that will be water under the bridge.
"Friday will be great for our staff, great for our customers, great for Canberra," he said.
"It's been a pretty hard road. We just really want to get back to serving our customers and supplying musical instruments and sheet music and all the accessories to the people of Canberra."
That was the general theme.
"We welcome the return of the customers and the return of people having a bit of freedom," Glenys Cameron, one of the managers at Dirty Janes, said.
The business has been selling through click-and-collect but it's not the same as face-to-face. Antiques and knick-knacks need personal inspection.
"You want to be able to touch it, and sit in it if it's a chair," Ms Cameron said.
If Queanbeyan, which opened its stores last week, is anything to go by then this Saturday will be busy.
At one stage on Saturday morning, customers in Kmart formed a line 50 metres long, snaking through the aisles, just to pay, often for small items.
Saturday may feel like a bonanza but the businesses will be making good after two months of hardship - but just as they are excited about retailing, some may be excited about retail therapy.
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