Despite the New South Wales lockdown being extended by at least two weeks, there is still confusion about what is considered "essential" shopping.
There are very few reasons why residents of Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour are allowed to leave their homes under the state's COVID-19 restrictions.
One of them is to shop for food or other "essential" goods and services.
But the meaning of that word is being stretched to include designer handbags, luxury watches, $10,000 dresses, trendy sneakers, plush toys, cosmetics, fancy stationery and the latest video games.
Some of shops still open for business on July 13 (the third week of lockdown) were Cotton On, Dr Martens, EB Games, General Pants Co, Gucci, H&M, Hype DC, JB Hi-Fi, JD, Louis Vuitton, Panerai, Platypus, Skechers, Supre, Typo and Vans.
A 'commonsense' approach?
Discretionary retailers are still able to keep trading because the NSW government has not defined what is considered "essential" work.
It is entirely subjective (or ambiguous) under the state's COVID regulations. In effect, almost every retailer is "essential" if they want to stay open during the lockdown.
"It is so, so difficult to have a precise rule for every single thing," NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters on Tuesday.
She made those remarks a day after NSW recorded 112 new coronavirus infections – the highest daily number from any state this year.
"That's why we rely on common sense [and why] we rely on people to respect the intent of the health orders as well as the letter of the health orders."
However, the Victorian government did not rely on common sense.
It released a detailed list to clarify what exactly is an "essential worker" and "essential provider".
Essential providers in Victoria include supermarkets, restaurants, cafes, bottleshops, banks, courts, pharmacies, petrol stations, mechanics, childcare and schools.
Gucci, LV and all of the retailers listed above were not allowed to trade during Victoria's previous lockdowns.
"We appreciate there's a bit of confusion around the NSW government's health advice on essential shopping ," Paul Zahra, the Australian Retailers Association's chief executive told RN Breakfast earlier this week.
He said: "We just need clearer direction" from the government.
Head office insists on staying open
ABC News spoke with several employees at these stores. Their names have been changed for the purpose of this article.
"What I'm doing is definitely not essential work," Jessica, a shopkeeper at a gift store, told ABC News.
Only three customers had visited her store for the whole day.
Jessica also said the store "shouldn't even be trading during a lockdown", but head office insisted on staying open — and that it knew "full well it was burning cash", with no customers and "plenty of wages and bills to pay".
Erin, a casual worker at a major footwear chain, shared a similar story.
She said, "it's pretty scary," to be at work, with the more infectious Delta variant circulating in the community.
"A lot of us don't qualify for Centrelink and we have rent to pay. It's bad, from the perspective of job security."
She would much rather have stayed home. But head office wanted to continue trading throughout the COVID lockdown and she "needed the money".
Selective enforcement
Last Friday, the NSW government imposed a rule which states: "Browsing in shops is prohibited."
But in reality, there was plenty of browsing going on and it seems this rule is selectively enforced.
ABC News observed three police officers walking past a Hype DC store where customers were trying to find the right-sized shoe (arguably an act of "browsing").
Afterwards, they proceeded to join a larger group of officers to make sure Sydney-siders were adhering to social distancing rules — while standing very close to each other.
