Empty shop fronts are becoming a feature of Auckland food courts which struggled to recover after the pandemic.
Operators said competition from flash new malls and the rising costs of goods were also making it difficult to stay in business.
Nerperit Singh owns Aroma Indian Cuisine, which is the last shop operating at the once thriving Rialto Mall food court in Auckland's Newmarket.
Singh had seen the shops around him close one by one as the Westfield mall opened down the road and then the pandemic hit.
"I've lost everything, all my savings, all the money, everything's gone on this... I know it's going to work, because our old customers do give us confidence."
A small group of loyal customers were keeping the business going, but the aftermath of the pandemic continued to affect foot traffic, Singh said.
"Because our main market is Monday to Friday, the lunch officegoers around here. So most of the clients, after Covid, were just [working] at home."
It was also difficult to keep providing cheap food with the rising cost of goods, he said.
"That's not feasible for how much I'm spending, for the cost [of operating]. Whenever I lift a bit of prices, customers are negative towards it."
Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
In Auckland's CBD, manager Shikha Goswami said construction of the City Rail Link had been an issue for the foodcourt she worked in.
"All this [construction work] has blocked the roads that's across these shops. So all the parking spots, all the ways to come here are blocked at the moment. So I think people are preferring easy locations for them to go and travel and to park their cars."
Most shops around her were not renewing their leases when they were up, Goswami said.
"They are looking for other areas where they can open their shops and that's a big increase in the number of sales."
The new shopping centre and food court in Commercial Bay had also given them a run for their money, she said.
Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
But it was not all doom and gloom.
Ponsonby International food court director Ilona Van Kirk said business had picked back up for them after tougher times during the pandemic.
She put it down to the good location, and a loyal base of customers gained from being around for 20 years.
"We're an iconic food court, so people know it. We have regular customers that have been coming. We're on Ponsonby Road so people can come here easily, we're street fronted."
A couple of out of towners even made the point of stopping specially.
"We don't live in Auckland, but whenever we drive through, we make sure that we stop [at the Ponsonby food court]," they said.
Back in the CBD, Goswami was hopeful that things would turn around in the next few years.
"Cruise ships are coming back, students are coming back, but it's not that [of a] great number that it used to be in 2015 and '16."
She urged people to support their local food courts if they wanted them to survive.
