Warrnambool business owners react to national day of mourning

The one-off holiday on September 22 comes on top of the AFL grand final Friday holiday for Victorians, creating a four-day long weekend.

Warrnambool's Anushka Brows and Beauty owner Rhiarna Sharma said she'd made the difficult decision to close the salon on September 22 and was scrambling to reschedule up to 70 appointments.

She said while she understood why a national day of mourning was important, it was unusual the public holiday wasn't being held on the day of the Queen's funeral on September 19.

"It certainly throws a lot of business owners out having it the day before the AFL public holiday as we now lose two days of trade at short notice," she said.

Mrs Sharma estimated her business would lose up to $8000 over the two days.

She said appointments were filling up fast in the lead up to Christmas and some clients were forced to cancel their appointment on September 22 rather than reschedule.

"There's also casual workers who have gone through two years of turmoil (due to COVID-19) and now they'll lose another day of wages. That's really hard for them," Mrs Sharma said.

She also worried for workers with young children who, even if their work place stayed open, would be forced to stay home due to the closure of childcare centres.

Wilde Dental's principal dentist Angie Paspaliaris said at this stage she planned to stay open at least half-a-day to try and mitigate the impact of having to reschedule an entire workday.

"For my business, and other appointment-based services, this announcement has a far more challenging administrative impact behind the scenes, with staff having to reschedule appointments," she said.

Dr Paspaliaris said she'd already recently started working later on weeknights and opening Saturdays to try and reduce the clinic's lengthy wait-list.

She said in order to reschedule appointments she would be forced to work "harder and longer" to avoid further delaying appointments for patients.

"I just don't have the availability to reschedule patients easily, so this has had an impact on my decision (to stay open)," Dr Paspaliaris said.

"We also have reduced workforce pressures that other small businesses are experiencing at the moment."

Best Western Olde Maritime Motor Inn owner Raj Patel said about 50 per cent of beds were already booked over the long weekend and he anticipated more holiday goers would now extend their stay in Warrnambool to make the most of the four days off.

But he said he would likely lose a large proportion of corporate guests who would no longer stay on the Wednesday and Thursday nights for work. The motel could take a financial hit as a result, Mr Patel said.

He said the restaurant would remain open and while two days of penalty rates would be difficult, it was a positive for his staff.

Mr Patel, who was born near Birmingham in England, said it was a sad time for those mourning the loss of Queen Elizabeth, including his parents who still lived over there.

Cally Hotel owner Lucas Reid said the Fairy Street pub would also remain open and customers wouldn't cop the financial burden of staff penalty rates.

"There will definitely be a higher wage bill but as usual, we won't have a surcharge," he said.

"Of course this impacts small businesses and there's been plenty of hurdles over the last couple of years but you've just got to soldier on.

"It's important we show that as a community and tourist location, we're open. You have to look at the positives, it's a good chance for staff in hospitality, which is typically a lower-paying job, to earn a bit more cash."

IN OTHER NEWS

Now just one tap with our new app: Digital subscribers now have the convenience of faster news, right at your fingertips with The Standard: