Shops planning for the way out of Covid
IF YOU’RE DESPERATE FOR THE SHOPS THIS IS WHEN THEY MIGHT REOPEN
SHOPS will soon be able to open their doors to eager shoppers once again after being forced to close at the beginning of the year due to the lockdown.
It might feel like a long time since stepping foot inside your favourite clothes or toy shop, but there is only a little longer to hold on.
For those keen to visit the high street stores soon, the Government says all non-essential retail such as Primark, IKEA, Next, Currys PC World and GAME could reopen on April 12 at the earliest.
This is good news for those eager to get back to the shops and for the retailers who have been forced to stay closed since the beginning of January – and for months last year during the first national lockdown.
The opening date is part of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s road map out of lockdown.
An announcement will be made on April 5 as to whether this opening date will go ahead or needs to be pushed back.
Non-essential retail is defined by the Government as including the following:
■ Clothing and fashion stores and tailors
■ Retail travel agents
■ Homeware stores
■ Carpet stores
■ Kitchen, bathroom, tile, and glazing showrooms
■ Tobacco and vape shops
■ Electronic goods and mobile phone shops
■ Charity shops
■ Photography studios
■ Antique stores
■ Homeopathic and naturopathic medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, and ayurveda
■ Markets (except livestock markets or stalls which fall under the list of essential businesses above, for example those selling food)
■ Car and other vehicle showrooms and other premises, including outdoor areas, used for the sale or hire of caravans, boats or any vehicle which can be propelled by mechanical means. However, taxi or vehicle hire businesses can continue. For example, a customer could order a rental vehicle online and collect it in person.
Car washes (except for automatic car washes)
■ Auction houses (except for auctions of livestock or agricultural equipment)
■ Betting shops The April 12 date is subject to change depending on whether the most recent coronavirus data meets the Government’s four tests. These four reopening rules are the success of the vaccine rollout, evidence of vaccine efficacy, new variants and infection rates, reports Birminghamlive. Non-essential retailers will only be able to open their doors to the public again if the analysis of the latest data meets all four criteria.
If one step in the road map ends up being delayed, subsequent steps will also be pushed back in order to create a fiveweek gap between them. Matt Hancock has confirmed in the latest coronavirus briefing from No 10 Downing
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An announcement will be made on April 5 as to whether this (April 12) opening date will go ahead
Street that the earliest dates for lifting restrictions are still as set out in the road map and would not be brought forward.
He said: “The reason for those dates is to give five weeks between steps so that we are going to see the effect of each step before making a decision after four weeks, with a week to go, as to whether we are able to take the next step.
“It’s a cautious but, we hope, irreversible path, and the effectiveness of the vaccine gives me increased confidence that we are going to be able to walk down that road as set out in the road map and we can see that the vaccines are making people safe and saving lives.”