‘It feels like a Saturday’

JD Sports and H&M attracted the most shoppers in intu Uxbridge shopping centre as non-essential stores were able to re-open their doors on Monday.

Social distancing measures have been put in place across the centre and inside shops, with two-metre distance queues forming early in the morning.

Staff member Chris, who works at jewellery store Goldsmiths in the shopping centre said the day had an “upbeat” atmosphere with a mixture of shoppers wearing masks. Staff were acclimatising to wearing masks and gloves as part of their new workwear, and it took them three days to prepare the store for re-opening.

He added: “It is not normally a busy mall but we found today has been quite busy as the first day back...I don’t know whether it’s the thrill of going back. It feels like a Saturday not a Monday.”

All the store’s staff have also been able to return to work after being furloughed, he said.

Intu shopping centre’s operations director Gavin Prior said the business had carried out research with 2,000 regular visitors to prepare for re-opening this week in terms of putting safety measures in place and assessing levels of interest to return to the high street. Mr Prior said: “It is clear from the queues that people have been excited about returning to the shops and we are doing everything we can to make that experience both safe and joyful.

“Footfall across all intu centres is naturally lower than the same day last year, but by 2pm today had grown by 218 per cent compared to last Monday and we expect the number of visitors to steadily increase towards the weekend as more of us look to venture out to the shops and more brands reopen.

“Around 40 per cent of the shops in intu centres are open today and many more are planning on reopening over the next week or two as they continue to put the right safety measures in place.

“We’d like to thank all the teams at intu and all the brands in our centres who have been working incredibly hard to make sure intu centres are safe places to visit and work.”

But out on the high street, the experience was “a bit strange” for family-run business Prontaprint

Uxbridge, which has a mixture of corporate and general public customers. Clients also usually come in from surrounding offices on the high street, but they remain closed despite the shops re-opening so far.

Heather Watters, who runs the printing services with her husband Jason, said: “Today we have had a few people in the shop but nowhere near as many as we used to before the lockdown, it has all been a bit strange. We normally get more footfall and more business people as well...Our business relies on other businesses.”

The self-employed couple who have been trading for 30 years have seen their business clients fold due to the crisis resulting in them being owed “huge amounts” of money.

“This is very difficult for us and I think it is just the beginning of it,” Mrs Watters added.

The high street shop which prints a range of flyers to stationery and personalised gifts, is now looking for “different avenues” of business in the months ahead, but Mrs Watters doesn’t believe that town centres will be back to normal until restaurants and coffee shops are up and running.

For self-employed people Mrs Watters also felt there has been no particular support, as the business is on a waiting list for Hillingdon Council to visit the store to find a way to help.

She added: “It would just be nice for more people to shop local rather than shopping on the internet, our prices are sometimes lower than the internet, and we speak to people and give advice.”

Hillingdon Council has been offering financial support to businesses due to the pandemic, with applications for the Local Authority Discretionary Grant open until Friday, June 19. This is aimed at small businesses who are not eligible for the Small Business Grant Fund or the Retail, Leisure and Hospitality Fund.

Leader of Hillingdon Council, Ray Puddifoot, added: “We will begin to see more local shops reopen over the next few weeks, and the council is offering a new package of support to help businesses to reopen safely. We would like to encourage residents to shop locally and support the borough’s high streets.”