Thousands of Shanghai’s small businesses struggle to survive as virus curbs remain a stumbling block

Several small businesses are looking at alternatives to deal with Covid-19 pandemic curbs that continue to affect their livelihood

The city cannot let its guard down against the highly transmissible Omicron coronavirus variant, says Shanghai Communist Party boss Li Qiang

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Shoppers and visitors walk along Nanjing Road shopping street in Shanghai. Small businesses in the city are still suffering from the government’s zero Covid strategy. Photo: Bloomberg.

Published: 8:30am, 1 Aug 2022

Thousands of service providers in Shanghai are facing a make-or-break moment as they struggle to sustain operations because of the city’s virus control measures.

Owners of frequently visited entertainment venues, from coffee shops to karaoke bars and restaurants to nightclubs, said they may either exit the mainland’s most developed metropolis or seek new avenues to deal with Covid-19 pandemic curbs that continue to dog them since reopening after a two-month lockdown in June.

Pu Na, founder and chief barista of coffee shop New Comer in the city centre, said her priority now was to hold on to clients for a new business venture even as she continues to operate her struggling cafe.

The entrepreneur, born in southwestern China’s Yunnan province, said that she was now shifting her focus “upstream”.

The owner of New Comer cafe in central Shanghai has decided to move up the supply chain after the recent lockdown. Photo: Yaling Jiang

During the two-month lockdown in April and May, Pu decided to buy a 13,300 square metre coffee farm in her home province.

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