Even with COVID restrictions lifted, businesses in Dickson's local Chinatown are struggling.
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Jason Zhou, the manager of Kagawa Japanese Cuisine, has increasingly found it difficult for his business to thrive in the area, where other restaurants have been forced to shut down.
"We are not making money right now. We just want to keep our business alive and make customers happy," Mr Zhou said.
"I have lost many friends due to their business not surviving. It's been really stressful to see."
The recent loss of 230 public car spaces to the Dickson Village development had been an additional struggle for customers coming into the restaurant.
"Takeaway is still our main source of income. Very few people come in to eat. We used to get a flood of customers for lunch and dinner but ever since the carpark and people preferring to work from home, they are gone," Mr Zhou said.
"The loss of international students has also been huge. Not only were they a key customer base but a lot worked for the businesses in this area. I have two or three open positions and no one comes for the interview."
Supply made this a double-barrelled issue for Mr Zhou. Cheaper ingredients from China and Japan were in low supply, leading to the use of more expensive Australian ingredients.
"We call and call trying to find new suppliers in China and Japan but all of them have huge wait times because COVID has disrupted supply chains for ingredients such as cooked tuna and eel," he said.
"It's forced us to change the menu and increase prices a bit as Australian ingredients are a lot more expensive."
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Other businesses in the area were finding the situation a bit better, with owner of Sfoglia Patisserie and Cafe Nick Boccuzzo positive about the future.
"Being a cafe we've got it pretty good and since lockdown has lifted it's been busier with people ringing to book," Mr Boccuzzo said.
"We made sure to keep innovative during both lockdowns. We did takeaways and made trays of homemade lasagnes to keep customers satisfied.
"As the weeks go by it has definitely got better for our business and hopefully it improves over the summer, with restrictions on social distancing and us being able to work without masks."
Dickson Residents Group president Jane Goffman said businesses in the area were managing to survive but could still be quite sensitive due to all the struggles they had experienced.
"We suspect many businesses have lost a third of their trade - if not more - so it has definitely been a tough time." Ms Goffman said.
"Since the car park has been taken away [July 26] there was a big drop-off, but over time we've seen a resurgence into the warmer months. There's always going to be flux in a shopping region, so I'm hopeful it will start to get better for them."
Guy Randell, the managing director of real estate agency Burgess Rawson, shared the growing optimism for the Dickson community centre.
"Some of the buildings are quite old in the area but tenants are never an issue. A big reason small businesses are struggling is ACT public servants still work from home, so once people head back to the office it should pick up again.
"Our agency is working with the DKSN development and we only have two offices out of 50 left for sale, which will have over 2000 workers once completed alongside over 3000 apartments sold, so the renewal program is definitely coming up.
"Once the carpark and property developments are done by 2023 it will all be booming for old and new businesses."
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