Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Shops back in business
JUDITH TONNER
Shops across Monklands reopened their doors on Monday in the latest phase of easing coronavirus lockdown restrictions.
Retail outlets – other than the food and identified essentials which have been operating throughout – with their own dedicated street-level accesses were able to open their doors for the first time in 14 weeks.
It was the biggest change among this week’s updates to Scotland’s Covid-19 routemap, which also now allows for the opening of indoor workplaces including factories and labs, plus outdoor markets, playgrounds and sports courts.
Traders in Airdrie and Coatbridge told of their delight at seeing customers return to their stores – subject to a variety of new measures including social distancing controls, regular handwashing and installing screens.
Susan Murphy of Airdrie flooring firm Hulme and Scott, based on Stirling Street, told the Advertiser of their first morning: “It’s been busy and really good – all the customers have been really cheerful and are happy to be back out.
“We’re fully practising ‘one in, one out’ and we’ve worked to put in the two-metre rule, there’s hand sanitiser for people to use and we’re abiding by all the guidance; and people seem quite comfortable with that.
“It’s quite positive and it’s been great to get customers back, have a wee blether and see how they’re all doing; we’re a family business and a lot of the customers are repeat clients and are our friends.”
She added: “We’ve had people getting in contact to ask when we’d be open so we knew there was interest and that we’d be busy; everybody has been at home during lockdown and can’t go on holiday so now they’re spending on their houses instead.
“It’s nice to see everybody and to see neighbours all opening up again too; the first few weeks were unknown and we didn’t know what to expect, but hopefully we may be through the worst of it and can look to the future.”
Coatbridge jewellery shop Gold Cave has been kitted out with perspex safety shields to protect staff and customers, as well as the now-familiar 2m distancing signs, hand wash, wipes and sterilising stations.
Iris McFadyen, who owns the Main Street business, said: “We’re happy to do it and we’re sticking to having two customers in the shop at one time.
“After being closed for so long
I didn’t know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised by the number of customers on our first day, as it was really quite busy, including with phone calls to ask if we had things in stock which people would come in to collect later.
“Coatbridge seemed quite busy in the street outside, and I think people felt a bit more confident about going out.”
Vaping retailer VPZ reopened both its Coatbridge and Airdrie stores, with director Doug Mutter saying: “Both [sets of ] staff have been amazing, and it is through their hard work that we can open safely.
“It’s been a long road to get the stores in a position where they are completely safe for both customers and staff.
“We had trialled new procedures prior to lockdown which were very helpful [ and] provided us with awareness of what we had to put in place in advance of reopening.”
The next change to coronavirus restrictions is an expected relaxation of the five- mile travel rule from Friday and the reintroduction of outdoor hospitality – “subject to health advice and physical distancing” – from Monday.
Phase three of the plans is set to include allowing extended groups outdoors and meeting up to two other households indoors with physical distancing from next week, followed by opening nonessential outlets inside shopping centres from July 13 and indoor hospitality, hairdressers, libraries, cinemas, and childcare from July 15.