I dont know if this is correct or not, but its arrogant enough that I'm sure it came from the government somehow. There have been major changes in peoples travelling and spending habits. My observation is that people have polarised around their local shopping precincts, and no longer travel the distances to shop they did as short a time ago as May 2000. Business which relied on travelling customers are now without them. Many are already dead, many more dying.
City centres seem to be the worst hit.
Customers from the suburbs are no longer travelling into city centres, or at best, no-where near as often as before. The price of petrol and carparking are upper most in peoples minds, and business is paying the price of the governments hard line. Significantly, those worst affected by the introduction of the gst were those whos prices DIDN'T change. These people didnt get the benefit of a spike in sales before or after gst introduction. The best of these near me was one of the first casualties.