Stores open - but only for ‘essential’ visits
A NUMBER of stores remain open in Nottingham’s Victoria Centre as John Lewis suspended its click-andcollect services.
The retailer said the move was to avoid non-essential travel, while in-home services will be carried out only if “essential” to customers’ wellbeing.
It is understood customers will be able to collect John Lewis orders from Waitrose stores.
Essential retail stores such as Boots and Tesco remain open in the centre. There are also four companies still offering click and collect services including CEX and Next.
Nigel Wheatley, centre director at Victoria Centre said: “As part of the latest government guidelines, essential retailers are allowed to remain fully open, while other retailers are permitted to offer click and collect services from their store entrances and food outlets can operate on a takeaway only basis.
“We are working closely with our retailers who are constantly reviewing their operations in line with this guidance and making decisions on a daily basis. We have a list of those stores who continue operating on our website and are keeping this updated as the situation changes.
“We’d like to remind everyone that they should only be visiting us if absolutely necessary.
“We have members of our team at entrances and key points through the mall. They may ask you why you are visiting the centre to help you get to where you need to go as parts of the malls are closed off. Anyone who does need to visit must comply with social distancing rules and wear a face covering (unless exempt).
“We’re also aware that people have routines and usually walk through the centre to access other areas of the city, particularly for buses. During the lockdown it’s important that we limit the amount of people in the centre to keep everyone safe and ensure people aren’t walking through unnecessarily.
“With this in mind, we are currently asking anyone who needs to access the bus station, to do so by walking around the outside of the centre.”