DEAN Street shop owner and Albury Business Connect president Barry Young says new COVID restrictions are the "lesser of two evils".
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The city joined regional NSW at the weekend in having to adapt to fresh limits to combat the virus following Sydney's outbreak.
"It's probably not surprising," Mr Young said of the steps which include mask wearing indoors, gym class number limits and no drinking while standing at venues.
"It's probably the lesser of two evils that we have some restrictions but not a lockdown."
Albury shoppers saw the value in donning masks.
"It's a means to an end," Springdale Heights father of six Ryan Kolm said alongside his partner Sianne Mather after buying a packet of masks on Sunday morning.
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"We've got a family so it's good if it protects our kids from getting it if it comes through here."
Lavington couple Graeme and Geanette Jacobs were among scores who covered their faces at screenings at Albury's Regent cinemas.
"I prefer not to have it but if you've got to have it you've got to have it," Mr Jacobs said.
It is the first time since the initial COVID restrictions last year that Albury and Wodonga residents simultaneously have to wear masks indoors.
Business Wodonga chief executive Neil Aird welcomed the uniformity after raising concerns last year about residents of his town opting to shop in Albury due to no masks.
"My beef with it was not the actual mask wearing, it was the inconsistency of it," Mr Aird said.
"I think the evidence is that masks help when there are diseases around and hopefully it will restrict any disease coming to the border towns.
"It makes it even again but it's not for the right reasons."
Wodonga Retailers president Greg Haysom said the change may stop some of his city's residents opting to shop in Albury.
Mr Young expects there may be a small drop-off in Wodonga consumers north of the Murray River.
"Face masks aren't really seen as too impactful and people are more willing to accept them now," he said.
Early Bird Cafe owner Wendy Pope said all patrons at her Dean Street eatery were complying with the mask rule.
She rather than the face covering or Sunday's wet weather, the biggest impact on trade was the Sydney lockdown with it noticeable there were not the school holiday travellers that she would normally have on the opening weekend of the break.
It follows that state's chief health officer declaring regional NSW to be an orange zone, requiring permits, tests and isolation for non-border residents entering Victoria.
"People who live in our border communities, either side of the Murray, are able to continue to operate as part of the border bubble so they will be able to travel more freely across the border on display of their driver's licence and other form of local ID," Victorian COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar said.
The bubble in NSW includes councils with a Murray River border and Wagga, Lockhart and Murrumbidgee local government areas.
Member for Benambra Bill Tilley saw the move as sensible and thinks fixed border checkpoints are unnecessary given the police resources and number plate recognition technology being used.
He believes the Victorian police commissioner and police union boss both oppose a hard border.
Albury MP Justin Clancy said the new rules were a challenge "but at the same time we can get through this over the next two weeks".
The Greater Sydney lockdown means Mr Clancy will isolate until July 9 after being in the capital last week for parliament and initially told to quarantine to July 6.
