Retailers on shopping strips in Sydney and Melbourne are building the case for property owners to pay the price for empty shopfronts amid claims business owners are fearful of negotiating with landlords.

Calls for an "empty shop tax" have escalated after small business commissioners first backed the proposal earlier this year. The tax aims to discourage property owners from keeping stores empty rather than cut the rent.

Chapel Street traders are grappling with a gloomy retail climate - and some are calling for more restrictions to be placed on landlords. Credit:The Age

"The landlords are greedy and shops stay vacant for years... they really don't care," owner of Toorak Travel Julie Poumés said.

Poumés agrees with a push from Melbourne's Toorak Village Traders Association for Stonnington Council to introduce levies on property owners if they don't find tenants within a reasonable time.