It's a sad day for many business owners and franchisees around Tamworth and the wider New England who have had to lay off staff as closures continue.
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As of Thursday and now today, a string of companies and stores are set to shut up shop, temporarily.
The Athlete's Foot franchisee Paul Lawrence said everything "was up in the air" at the moment, but will be closing for the foreseeable future on Sunday at 1pm.
He's had to lay off five staff, some of which have been with him since the store's opening three years ago.
"I have a small staff - but I've had to put everybody off so it's a sad day. But how long it goes for that is still yet to be seen," he said.
Accent Group, which owns Athletes Foot, is closing its entire store network for four weeks from 5pm on Friday. Over 500 Hype DC, Platypus, The Athlete's Foot and The Trybe stores will close, and all retail staff and most support office staff will be stood down without pay.
"They [the government] haven't given everyone a blanket time to finish. Most are just shutting down. In the centre here - there are shops already closed and some are closing at 2pm today," Mr Lawrence said.
They [the government] haven't given everyone a blanket time to finish. Most are just shutting down. In the centre here - there are shops already closed and some are closing at 2pm.
- Paul Lawrence
Closing up will mean Mr Lawrence has to break his lease, and while discussions are happening about what that means, all stores are in a different position.
A government decision on all leases and agreements would potentially cause "mass chaos", he says.
"We can't go off what we did last time - because there is no last time," he said.
"The government I suppose are in a difficult position, because there is a different type of set up everywhere. People are loosing their jobs and can't pay rent, and landowners may be paying off mortgages, there is no blanket solution.
"It'll be a couple years before we get over this."
He's thankful they can still operate as normal online, as some shops don't have that option.
Premier Investments who own Smiggle, Peter Alexander, Just Jeans, Jay Jays, Portmans, Jacqui E and Dotti, temporarily closed all stores in Australia on Thursday.
They stood down most employees except for a small number of people required to perform limited essential work.
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The company has already closed stores in New Zealand, the UK and Ireland, and laid off over 9000 employees globally.
Lovisa has also announced the indefinite closure of stores in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
The jewellery chain is currently only trading in Singapore.
More to close their doors include Mosaic Brands, who own Michael Hill and Noni B.
They announced sweeping store closures, alongside APG & Co, which owns Saba, Sportscraft and Jag, Retail Apparel Group who owns Tarocash, Connor, Johnny Bigg and yd., and many others.
