A Deloitte Economics report says Adelaide’s CBD has been smashed by the Covid-19 restrictions and it will take until 2026/7 before retailers can see light at the end of the tunnel.

Adelaide’s CBD was in dire straits before the restrictions and now it’s a scene out of, “I am Legend.”

There are more than 130 vacant business premises across the city’s key precincts of Rundle Mall and Hindley, Gouger, Rundle, Hutt, Melbourne and O’Connell streets. Thousands of casual jobs have been lost.

The South Australian ABS unemployment figure of 5.8 per cent in June is a joke.

Hindley, O’Connell and Rundle streets all have business vacancy rates of above 14 per cent and rising. Gouger Street’s vacancy rate is 13 per cent. It was six per cent in June 2018.

The only foot traffic in the CBD is police on patrols, chasing tumbleweeds.

The Adelaide City Council said there was a 12 per cent fall in retail spend in Rundle Mall and a six per cent drop across The Parade in Norwood and Westfield centres in Marion, Tea Tree Plaza and West Lakes. The ACC is being kind. In real terms, this has translated in to a 40 percent drop in revenue.

The northern and western suburb shopping plazas were tombstones to market capitalism before Covid-19 hit last year.

The lack of international students and tourists in the past 12 months has smashed the CBD. Hotel bookings have flatlined with thousands of rooms empty.

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