(live from Liverpool)
Demand across England’s High Streets, retail parks and shopping center’s surged (today is Sunday ) as some shops reopened recently after a three-month lockdown due to COVID-19
All shops in England are now allowed to open, but with strict safety measures.
“Footfall has risen by more than we anticipated, but it was certainly helped by the weather, which made queuing a more pleasurable experience,”
Safety measures include plastic screens at the tills and floor markings to keep shoppers two meters apart – measures that are already a regular fixture in supermarkets.
Although food shops, pharmacies, banks and other essential retailers have stayed open, vast swathes of the High Street, from bookshops to clothes outlets, have been closed since 23 March.
There were socially distant queues outside Zara, Primark and TK Maxx this morning and a steady crowd of shoppers are now browsing in the centre. Lots of young people are here, mothers with strollers and some older shoppers too. Some people are wearing masks, but not many.
However, lots of stores remain closed and all the lights are off in the locked cafes and fast-food restaurants.
The shoppers are mostly sticking to the new rules and staying socially distant – when they remember. Floor markings indicate a one-way system, every second toilet cubicle is closed, touch-screen maps have been powered down and seating areas are roped off. But apart from those changes – and a growing queue outside Primark – everything feels rather normal.
UpBiz 