Calling last customers: Melburnians brave horrific weather and COVID-19 to cut their hair and get last-minute jobs done before SIX WEEKS of extreme lockdown starts
- All but the very essential items and services will be available from Thursday
- Hairdressers loaded with customers who will not be able to get a cut for weeks
- Car mechanics have been inundated with motorists desperate for services
- Confused motorists lined up out into the streets to gain access to VicRoads
- Shoppers dashed into big retail outlets for the last time before they all close
- Many shops in COVID hotspots had already closed their doors before deadline
Melburnians have scrambled to get their hair cut and shopping done in a last-minute rush before the draconian stage-four lockdown forces a swathe of businesses to shut their doors for six weeks at midnight.
Hairdressers, electrical and furniture shops, food courts and clothes shops all served their last customers on Wednesday until at the very least mid September.
By then it will be a different state in both economic and seasonal climate than the icy and wet conditions those that ventured outside encountered today.
People flocked into the hairdresser on Wednesday for a final cut before an even harder lockdown
Bunnings will open to trade workers only from tomorrow. On Wednesday people ventured out in the rain to change gas bottles
Homewares shops were busy on Wednesday with last minute shoppers
As rain pelted down in Melbourne's west, the car park at Bunnings Warehouse in COVID-19 hotspot of Wyndham was bustling with last-minute customers.
People scrambled to exchange gas bottles and pick up items that might keep them busy over the next six weeks of hard lockdown.
Come tomorrow, only tradies finishing up jobs will be able to pop in and get what they need.
It was a similar scene at soon-to-be-closed businesses along the Old Geelong Road shopping strip, with car parks filled with customers making last chance buys.
At Spotlight, customers were spotted lining up with bundles of cloth to make face masks with.
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One woman made sure to stock up on fabric displaying Christmas characters with the full presumption that this latest lockdown could drag well into the summer.
Further down the footpath anxious motorists lined-up outside a VicRoads office amid confusion about whether or not it would remain open during the lockdown.
It was a question Hoppers Crossing motor mechanic Mick was also keen on learning the answer too.
His business, Rapidflow Developments, resembled a Christmas Eve shopping centre carpark on Wednesday as motorists inundated the mechanic with their vehicles.
Under the stage-four lockdown laws to come into play at midnight, mechanics are only supposed to make 'emergency repairs'.
The state government has made life harder by shutting down the auto parts industry that supplies the state's mechanics.
Mick told Daily Mail Australia he was confused about what exactly an emergency repair even was.
'If a car's engine light is displaying and the owner is worried the car is going to catch fire, well, does that class as an emergency?' he pondered.
'Then again, someone might need their brakes looked at or they need their car serviced because they are an essential worker that does a lot of driving.'
Mick from Rapidflow Developments was inundated with customers hoping to get the cars serviced before the lockdown
VicRoads saw people lining up outside to get in on Wednesday in Melbourne's west
Spotlight continued to do a roaring trade on Wednesday as people came in for materials to make masks
The veteran mechanic said some would probably class their radio not working as an emergency.
'We'll try to do the right thing. Repairs on cars are predominantly a safety issue otherwise they wouldn't be here,' he said.
Talkback radio was peppered with calls from like-minded Melburnians asking for clarity about what they could or could not do.
'Were UberEats deliveries still allowed after the 8pm curfew?' one asked.
Answers were not in strong supply.
At Werribee Pacific, a large shopping centre that caters to the Wyndham hotspot, many of the shops had already closed their doors.
Some had closed during the first outbreak and never re-opened.
The Zing Pop Culture shop remained open, but planned to close its doors at 3pm.
Bunnings was full of last day shoppers on Wednesday in Hoppers Crossing
Hairdressers were kept busy with customers before they have to close on Thursday
Most of its customers had stripped its shelves of its Lego Super Mario starter packs on Saturday.
'They'll probably be an essential item over the next six weeks,' the soon-to-be unemployed shopkeeper said.
He planned to spend his days in lockdown catching up on his video games.
In JB HiFi, shoppers made last minute purchases to help get them through the lockdown.
Kitchen supply shops and clothes outlets opened up for what may very well be the last time ever.
Food courts served their last customers and hairdressers cut their last locks.
The owner of one busy hairdressing salon told Daily Mail Australia she understood why they needed to close.
'It's for the safety of the community,' she said. 'We just hope that this gets the job done and we can return to work when this is all over.'
Busy mum Rachel had brought her daughter Madison in for a haircut just in the nick of time.
'I'll have to get my hair done in six weeks now,' she said.
Kmart had already closed its doors on Wednesday
Many shops across Melbourne closed early before the Thursday lockdown
Beauty salons were forced to close weeks ago under stage three restrictions. Some will never open again
K-mart had already shut as Big W and Target served a stream of customers for the final time.
While Melburnians have again stockpiled supermarket items such as meat over the past few days, the mad rush seemed to subside by Wednesday morning.
Still, supplies of chicken and minced meat were the items of choice among the soon-to-be heavily isolated.
As Premier Daniel Andrews reported 15 deaths and 725 new cases of coronavirus, Victorians prepared to lock themselves inside and wait for the next grim update tomorrow and hope the numbers begin to fall.
An elderly woman sits quietly inside a near deserted shopping centre on Wednesday
Food courts will be totally closed come tomorrow. A few customers enjoyed a last meal on Wednesday
Big W will shot its doors on Thursday. Customers stocked up today for the last time
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