STAFF at Warrnambool's Capitol Cinema are preparing to shut down for another six weeks.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Following the announcement by Premier Daniel Andrews on Sunday that regional Victoria would revert back to stage three restrictions, Capitol Cinema general manager Greg Gent said the last movie sessions would be on Wednesday night.
"We sort of had the feeling in the last week or so that we were going to get locked down again as the numbers got worse and worse in Melbourne and it's sort of spreading down towards our area," he said.
"It's not a great surprise unfortunately but it's a thing that has got to be done.
"It's disappointing that we're going into lock down again but we've just got to try and get through it as best we can."
Mr Gent said he expected about half of his casually employed staff would continue to receive JobKeeper.
He said since reopening after the first lock down the numbers of people attending the cinema had been slowly improving.
"I think we did reasonably well in the school holidays, the last couple of weeks for us have been really quiet," he said.
"That's probably got a lot to do with the spread of COVID, a lot of people aren't sure about coming in but mainly for us we rely on new content and the movies we've been screening have either been retro ones or the newest movies we had were three or four months old.
"Last week we had two new releases and the numbers had been encouraging from Thursday till today. We were on the way to getting back to some sort of normality.
"We're reliant on those new release movies so hopefully when we come back in September there'll be a few more available to us."
Tir na nOg Skin and Beauty Therapy owner Susan O'Brien said she and staff were working hard to reschedule bookings before Wednesday night's lock down.
She said customers would still be able to buy products via the business's website and they would do online consultations with clients.
"Being online is going to be very important to keep in touch with clients and keep them up to date as to what's going on, so we're trying to increase our digital presence," she said.
Ms O'Brien, who has had the business with her sister for 21 years, encouraged residents to keep supporting local businesses.
"It has to be done, there's no way getting around it, we just want to get rid of this virus - get it over and done with," she said.
"I hope our clients will keep supporting us and keep supporting local businesses so there are no people closing down or losing jobs."
Anushka Brows and Beauty owner Rhiarna Sharma said although there was uncertainty with this lock down it was good to have a time frame of six weeks.
"Last time it was all unknown," she said.
"They're saying six weeks and we'll wait and see if that's right.
"The staff are all in pretty good spirits.
"This time around we're more prepared with projects and other study we can do. It's a long time to be sitting around when you're used to being flat chat at work." She said clients can continue to buy products online and will be able to book appointments online for when the business re opens.
READ MORE:
Have you signed up to The Standard's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in the south-west.