A cold wind blew through Melbourne's famous CBD lanes on Monday but it wasn’t just the onset of autumn.
Business owners and staff wore their sadness, dismay and fear on their faces as many of them were forced to close for an unknown period.

‘‘It’s like a morgue,’’ said one longtime trader, staring down a deserted Degraves Street, its tables removed by lunchtime.

Tony Roussos, owner of The Quarter Cafe: closing and cutting his losses.Credit:Joe Armao

In Block Arcade, one of our top tourist attractions, the Hopetoun Tea Rooms, were eerily deserted, their famous queue gone and their usually shiny cake display empty. A note from the owner on the window said they would be closed ‘‘for a little while’’ and ‘‘let’s choose to be positive and optimistic about the future’’.

Haigh’s Chocolates, usually buzzing in the lead-up to Easter, was taking one or two customers at a time, for hygiene reasons.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison ruled on Sunday night that, in an effort to stop the spread of coronavirus, cafes must open only for takeaway and delivery.

CBD business owners said while they understood the reasons, it spelled disaster for eateries dependant on sit-down custom. Ali Ibrahim, co-owner of family business Max Bar and Restaurant in Hardware Lane, said he was ‘‘shattered’’ to have to close and lay off 16 staff, including a chef who had worked for him for 14 years.

Usually this was a busy time of year but he had been running at a loss for two weeks and on Sunday, Max served just nine meals, compared to more than 400 on a normal Sunday.

Mr Ibrahim, son of a Lebanese factory worker, had borrowed from relatives to start Max restaurant from scratch 17 years ago with his brother Michael. They had worked hard and ‘‘tried to do the right thing’’ but now ‘‘we don’t know how to cope with it, to be honest,’’ Mr Ibrahim said, and can’t say if they can re-open at some point.

‘‘I don’t know what it will be like on the other side [of the coronavirus spread], to be honest,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s very worrying.’’ Mr Ibrahim said federal and state governments’ small business help packages were disappointing and amounted to tax relief which would be of little help: ‘‘We need cash injections. We’ve still got to pay our staff, pay bills, pay suppliers’’.

He said Australia should follow the UK government’s lead in paying 80 per cent of salary for staff who are kept on by their employer, covering wages of up to £2500 ($5062) a month.

Bob Bozinovski, owner of Degraves Espresso, in Degraves Street, said governments should have locked down the city earlier to contain the virus. His cafe served just 20 people in seven hours on Sunday and had not seen such bad times in his 15 years here.

‘‘It’s just dismal,’’ he said. He didn’t open at all on Monday — ‘‘It’s not worth it, taking in rent, wages, materials and utilities’’ — and can’t see when he will re-open.

Tony Roussos, owner of The Quarter Cafe, also in Degraves Street said he had been ‘‘working day and night’’ talking to accountants, banks and his landlord to find a way to continue, to no avail.
Closing was ‘‘devastating’’ and he felt for his 25 staff, but he had no choice: 90 per cent of his income is from sit-down customers, and with office workers no longer coming to town, the business was not viable.

‘‘Who would we be offering takeaway to?’’ he said.

He said tourist make up a large part of his business and with most having gone home and major events called off, on Monday business was down 99 per cent. He had decided to close and cut his losses.

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