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For one of the few times since the beginning of the SARS outbreak, Emily Chen and her friends went out to a restaurant for dinner this weekend.
"It was really delicious and exciting. In fact, it was almost the first time I've been out for dinner since the SARS cases were reported in Shanghai," the 25-year-old said. "I really can't bear being cooped up at home any longer, and the current condition seems much safer than weeks ago."
Over the past week, many Shanghai residents have started to visit restaurants and shopping malls again, as public fear about SARS wanes. Before a new SARS case was reported last Thursday, the city kept a clean record for 12 days. No new cases have been reported since Thursday.
This weekend saw sales at five major Chinese restaurants rise 7.6 percent from the week before, according to a survey by the Shanghai Commercial Commission.
Despite that increase, sales are still down about 65 percent from this time last year, the commission reports.
"Families have come back to us, but not those on company accounts," said Zheng Ying, general manager of Shanghai New Zheng Jiang Restaurant on Nanjing Road W.
Perhaps that explains the quick recovery of the fast-food sector, which doesn't depend on expense account lunches.
Sales at KFC outlets grew by 5.8 percent last week from the week before, pushing its sales 15.5 percent higher than the same week last year, the company said.
The commission's survey of 15 major department stores paints a similar picture. Sales at the stores rose 5.4 percentage points last week from the week before, the commission reported, without saying how far sales have dropped from last year.
The Grand Gateway Plaza in Xujiahui attracted an average of 120,000 shoppers per day over the past weekend, almost leveling pre-SARS numbers. The plaza attracted only 60,000 to 70,000 visitors a day during the SARS panic.
"The retail and catering industries are warming up as people can not be constrained at home for too long and the panic about SARS fades," said Chen Yuxian, a commission official.
The city's cinemas, however, are still suffering from slow business.
"The business remains bad, and only picked up a little over the weekend," said Lin Qi, an official with Studio City in the Westgate Mall.
Two-thirds of the cinema's revenues were wiped out by SARS, Lin said.
(Eastday.con May 27, 2003)
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