Frankie and Co operations manager Kellie Baines said she looked forward to welcoming back the Bendigo community - provided there are no regional cases in the next 24 hours - having only just opened the High Street store.

"We were devastated by the lockdown announcement as we'd only been open for a week," she said. "Our staff were fantastic and we'll be ready to go again on Friday.

"After spending a lot of money on having a beautiful new store to only have to close it a week later, but still having to pay our staff, we think it would be good to have some support.

"The Business Victoria grant which opened today is something we'll apply for even if it only pays some wages or a few costs."

READ MORE:

The state government coronavirus restrictions stipulate that as of Friday, retail stores will have a density rule of one person per four square metres and the Service Victoria QR code app is required to record attendance.

"Hopefully the Bendigo community will come out and support us again but we will have some new shop restrictions," Ms Baines said.

"We have two staff in our shop and we will be requesting people show us they've signed in."

Bendigo Trades Hall Council secretary Luke Martin said more support for workers, particularly casual workers, across every sector was desperately needed.

"The government needs to reintroduce a second version of JobKeeper in the event or more lockdowns," he said.

"There is a constant of uncertainty which is very frustrating for everyone. It seems like we won't go back to a pre-COVID time but we need to make this new normal work."

Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association state secretary Michael Donovan called on the federal government to fill the JobKeeper void.

"We're very concerned, especially about casual staff in the absence of JobKeeper," he said. "This is the first lockdown since the end of JobKeeper and there's a clear indication that we need to protect workers with subsidies.

"We are pleased to see the restrictions across regional Victoria will start lifting on Friday, but we think if the federal government reinstate JobKeeper, it should include the past week and regional Victorian workers."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:

Have you signed up to the Bendigo Advertiser's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in central Victoria.