A recent check by FMT found that more than 20 shop lots in Kuala Lumpur’s Chinatown had been put up for sale or for rent. Only a handful of convenience stores and restaurants were still operating.
KL Hawkers and Petty Traders Association chairman Ang Say Tee said the burden of overhead costs had forced 20% of the shops in the area to shut operations last year, and they stayed closed for the most part of 2020.
He told FMT even more shops could close this year, saying he would not be surprised if 50% of Petaling Street businesses would shutter before the year ended.
“It’s horrible, really horrible. Even if they open, they won’t get any business. Even though eateries can open now, they still don’t get many customers because no one goes out.
“How to survive? Stalls are doing badly, shops are doing badly. Previously, Petaling Street had so many stalls selling bags, clothes, shoes and food. Now, they can’t sell anything.
“We have shops selling confectionery and cakes that are doing badly. There’s even a shop that’s over 100 years old that isn’t doing well.”
Foreign tourists used to account for most of the shoppers on Petaling Street, but they are gone now because international borders are closed.
Ang said most of the local tourists were from the Klang Valley, Penang and Johor, but even they were no longer coming in large numbers. The brief reopening of domestic tourism last December did not help much.
No one has any idea when the borders will reopen, and Ang said he was pessimistic about the future of the tourist hotspot.
“I don’t know when they’ll be allowing tourists back in. It could be in one, two or even three years. I really don’t know. But what can we do about it?”
He said business conditions were so unfavourable that no new businesses were expected to take over the ones that had closed down, adding that he did not foresee new entrants at least in the next six months to a year.
Ang said aid packages announced by the government had helped a bit, but he lamented there was not much that Putrajaya could do to really get the businesses back on their feet.
He was not hoping for the lockdown to end soon. Even if restrictions were lifted, he said, the pandemic would keep visitors away.
His only hope was that the pandemic would ease and eventually subside.
“Covid-19 must be over before people will come here to do business,” he said. “There’s no business even if we open now. I just hope the virus will subside.”