WA's worker shortage has become "untenable" for some businesses, prompting cafes and restaurants in regional areas to shut up shop.
Almost every sector in regional towns has struggled to find workers in recent years.
It has been particularly hard in Western Australia to find people to work in hospitality, in retail stores and on farms.
Boddington cafe owner Parminder Singh said he had kept his shop open during tough times, and even on public holidays, but he would close his doors for good this weekend.
"I never closed in the last 425 days — even Easter, Christmas … we always open," Mr Singh said.
"I have a very good manager here, she and my nephew organise the open and close and everything.
"But how long can they work alone? I need staff."
Mr Singh said finding and maintaining staff was a constant struggle when competing with mines around Boddington and career and education opportunities in Perth.
"It's disappointing because I try my best in this town," he said.
"I bought my own house here so my employee lives in that house and I try my best to get people from Perth.
"The two mine sites are here, the shire is here ... everyone is looking for good people."
The closure comes as a further blow to Mr Singh, who closed his business in Cranbrook in 2019 due to staff shortages.
Bridgetown closures
It was a similar story 200 kilometres south in Bridgetown.
Three food venues have shut in recent months due to staff shortages, including Shannon Lawson's restaurant which closed at the weekend.
"It's tough, we really didn't take this decision lightly," she said.
She said the staffing issues had become untenable.
"We sat down and also with the management of the Freemasons hotel where we're based and they've also had the same issues," she said.
"They've been struggling in all their departments — they've had staff losses all the way from admin, to housekeeping to front of house and bar.
"We got to the point where we all just agreed that the best thing for everyone was to have to close."
A local pub also shut in October because of staff shortages.
'It will get better'
Australian Hotels Association WA communications manager David De Garis said the return of backpackers after COVID-19 lockdowns had eased worker shortages for some businesses in the metropolitan area and busy regional centres.
"If you walk around the streets of Perth you can hear the backpackers in the Perth CBD, you can hear a lot more accents than we certainly had two years ago, they are coming back," he said
"Unfortunately, now it has been such a persistent issue for a number of years that understandably staff and managers and owners are simply burnt out.
"They've been grappling with labour shortages for so long now that it's taken it's toll."
He said high airline prices were still keeping people away and it could take time for workers to return to regional towns that weren't tourist hotspots.
"Even before COVID we obviously saw backpackers gravitate towards more popular areas," he said.
"Whether it's the harvest trail down south or chasing the sun up north in Exmouth or Broome, it's always going to be harder to get backpackers to gravitate towards towns that are less known or don't have the same tourism appeal.
"Hang in there, it will get better."
