The top business in the ChooseCBR stimulus scheme, a small grocer, redeemed almost 2,000 vouchers in a single day of trading, though most claimed only about 70, according to new figures.

$2 million was offered in vouchers through the ChooseCBR scheme, but it has faced criticism after a botched rollout and revelations large chains including Chemist Warehouse and McDonald's were able to participate in the scheme.

A list of the top 100 businesses in the scheme released by ACT Business Minister Tara Cheyne today showed eight of the top 10 businesses redeeming vouchers were in fact small grocers — the most successful, Daily Market's City and Gungahlin stores, claimed almost 2,000 vouchers.

But the dominance of small grocers at the top of the list for voucher redemptions has surprised some others in the industry — even though they also had busy days of trading.

The average business in the scheme claimed 74 vouchers, a government spokeswoman said, with the average voucher redemption being $34.

Daily Markets Gungahlin store worker Amy Zhang said it had been an intense day of trading, with about $30,000 in sales at the shop, and queues that spilled outside as they restricted customers indoors due to COVID-19 rules.

"It was very, very busy ... people were buying lots of rice, noodles, things people can store," she said.

But Ms Zhang said it was also a shame that the vouchers quickly ran out, meaning some families in need had missed out.

She said some customers who had waited hours in line, with family out of work, had left to return the next day, only to find the $2 million in vouchers had all been spent, while others had redeemed four or five vouchers each.

Grocers surprised to top the list

Small grocer Shiva Neupane, who runs the Discount Grocery Store in Phillip, which placed 89th in the list, said he was surprised at the trade some grocers did.

"I don't think it's possible ... serving with one counter, I don't see how it's possible," Mr Neupane said.

He said his own single-till grocer, which saw about 700 people come in on the day ChooseCBR was relaunched compared to the usual 100 people, was required to stay open all night to complete trades, with people waiting hours in queues to buy goods.

He said he was grateful the scheme had helped bring new customers to his store, which opened during the middle of the COVID-19 outbreak last year, though he was disappointed that the scheme ended before many people had a chance to learn about it or his participation in it.

"It could have been better with the time to [properly advertise]," he said.

Another small grocer, who also made the top 100 list, but did not want to be identified, told the ABC a typical sale using vouchers took about three times longer to process, and a grocer would have had to do an entire week's worth of trade in a single day to make the sales reported.

Business Minister Tara Cheyne said she had attended one of the top 10 grocers on the day of the relaunch, and that was consistent with what she saw.

"I visited [the grocer] on Friday at 4:30pm and they had a very deep line, maybe 35 deep," Ms Cheyne said.

Ms Cheyne said the spending was welcome stimulus for smaller grocers.

"These are small stores — yes Woolworths and Coles did amazingly well during the pandemic — but these are small family-run businesses," she said.

She also noted that while grocers topped the list, the top 100 was also made up of art businesses, cinemas, hairdressers and sports stores.

Ms Cheyne said she understood the frustration that some missed out, and said even planning for double the uptake they had seen at the first attempted launch, the scheme should have run for several days.

"Having it spread out ... would have been a better experience for customers and businesses," she said.

McDonald's Manuka, which was highlighted in media coverage as a participant in the scheme, did not make the top 100 list, while Chemist Warehouse Belconnen came in at number three.