Over half of businesses feel more positive now than during COVID: Canberra Business survey

A survey conducted by the Canberra Business Chamber on business sentiment this year revealed 45.61 per cent of the 100 participants felt their business situation had slightly improved from the beginning of 2022.

This comes after the last survey revealed 72 per cent of business felt they were worse off at the beginning of 2022 than they were in early December of 2021.

A further 17.54 per cent said their situation had much improved, while 21.05 per cent said their situation was much the same.

It also revealed 48.12 per cent of respondents are somewhat confident about their business improving in the next 12 months, while 15.79 per cent are very confident and 24.56 per cent were neutral.

Canberra Business Chamber chair Archie Tsirimokos said the mixture of responses was much more positive than he had anticipated.

"Coming off the last year, business have started to raise their heads above the impacts of the pandemic," he said.

"It's a mixed bag of responses ... and there certainly are dark clouds still around with inflation and the cost of living."

But for the owner of fabric and sewing class store Weft and Warp Rebecca Harper, things have only gone upwards since the pandemic affected her store.

Weft and Warp opened 12 days before the lockdown in 2021, making the already difficult task of starting a business even harder.

"The lockdown was definitely a boot up the backside for us to get onto our online presence so we could actually sell things, as there was no option for us to leave our home and go to the store itself," she said.

However, as the store began to operate as it was intended and started to make a name for itself in 2022, it experienced month to month incremental growth throughout the year.

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The store has been able to move from its first location in Phillip to another bigger space, in a "tactical leap" for the days ahead, Mrs Harper said.

"We have hope for the future, and we want to become known as the place to go for dressmaking supplies and knowledge. That is what we are working towards," she said.

The survey also revealed the biggest issues still affecting businesses are finding and retaining staff and the impact of the cost of living on customers.

Manager of Sweet Little Cafe in Griffith Polly Wang said she has had to increase the prices of her products recently, but the cafe isn't being affected by it.

"Things like bread and vegetables had become so expensive for us to have to buy, so that resulted in some price increases from us," she said.

"However, the customers remain happy. We are very much a small local cafe, so people who live nearby are still coming to us to get their coffees.

"At the moment we have no concerns, we are actually doing much better than usual at the moment. Things might change as they naturally do when winter comes however."

Both staff and cost of living issues have been on the mind of Mrs Harper over the past year, and will likely continue to affect the business in coming months, she said.

"Every time there has been an interest rate hike, we go two weeks with a noticeable drop in customers before they teeter back in again. It's getting better now, but it was quite bad when rates started going up," she said.

"Currently we have enough staff, but once we expand to our new store we are going to have to look into getting more.

"The thing for us is we need staff members with existing knowledge and experience around what we deliver and sell."

Mr Tsirimokos said the biggest issue which will continue to affect businesses trying to find and retain staff is the lack of skilled workers.

"With the labour and skills shortage that is happening at the moment, a lot of business owners are simply stuck asking 'where do I get them from?'."

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