Not all shoppers are buying the need for masks
AFriday afternoon in July should be the perfect excuse for a day of retail therapy. In lockdown, many will have missed spending the occasional day meandering in and out of shops with a friend, stopping for lunch and then for coffee or an early glass of wine.
But, as shoppers arrived at stores yesterday – with the Government’s new policy on mask wearing in full flow – it’s clear the days of leisurely shopping trips are no more.
Every shopper is now required to wear a face covering or risk being fined on the spot. At a Westfield shopping centre in west London, security guards sporadically stop people not wearing masks, many of whom remain uncertain about the new restrictions.
Meanwhile, some shoppers are leaving ahead of schedule, unable to endure the face coverings for long. Julie Piper, 48, says she had anticipated coming for the entire day with her 15-year-old daughter Lila and a friend just as she used to, but found having to wear a face mask too “claustrophobic” to bear.
“I don’t think we’ll be here as long as we usually would be,” she says. “Usually we’d spend a good few hours here and really browse and eat and stuff. But I want to get out as soon as I can.”
Patricia Townsend, 59, says she wouldn’t rush to come back to a shopping centre, and plans to revert to stress-free online shopping. “You can’t walk about with this [on] all the time, it’s too hot and it dehydrates you so you get very tired.
“Normally, you come and spend the day, you stop for a coffee. But I don’t think I’d do it again, I wouldn’t rush back, this is terrible.”
Being forced to keep her mask on makes the whole experience feel rather less like retail therapy, she says.
“It’s not relaxing. You don’t feel like you can just meander around and have a shop. You do what you need to do and go.”
As the centre fills up, some visitors manage to avoid being chastised. Lee Lock, 33, says he won’t be wearing a mask as he doesn’t believe they are necessary. What will he do if stopped and asked to wear one? Leave. But, he says “no one’s asked me to”.
Josh Addison, 29, says he’ll only wear one if specifically asked to or if there is a “consequence” such as the threat of a fine. “The guys at the front today were like ‘have you got a mask?’ And I said no, and they said ‘oh, no, it’s OK, just asking’. So that greeting alone tells me it’s optional.”
Many shoppers simply hadn’t realised that the rules on masks had changed. Sozan Jasser, 37, only thought to put her mask in her handbag this morning after a friend called to say she’d been threatened with a fine in her local petrol station.
“Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been wearing one right now,” she says, adding that she is leaving early as the mask is making her feel faint.
“It gives me anxiety, I feel suffocated, I feel strangled, I don’t like it. I didn’t know you had to wear one today, and right now I’m ready to go.”
Not everyone is obliged to wear a mask. Kaz Mohamed, 35, wears a lanyard around his neck stating he is exempt for medical reasons. He has breathing difficulties exacerbated by wearing a mask but finds he has to defend his right not to wear one. “I have to explain myself all the time.”
One man holding a mask to his mouth explains to a security guard that it broke on the train. Nicholas Jackson, 62, says: “I’ve been holding it in place on the train all the way here.” Mr Jackson bought another to avoid further questions. “It’s not a great thing for me because I’ve got respiratory problems, but we’ll persevere.”
Walking around the shopping centre, it’s easy to see why people are perplexed by the new rules. In some shops, including Topshop, LK Bennett and Marks & Spencer, staff are not required to wear face coverings even though customers are.
And while shoppers must keep their faces covered even on the large, airy concourse, it seems they are not required to wear one when they stop at a coffee shop or if walking around having a bite to eat.
Many feel the new policy is a case of “too little, too late”. As one shopper says: “It’s a bit of a contradiction the whole way through really. I’m just doing it because I have to.”
‘It’s not relaxing. You don’t feel like you can just meander around and have a shop. You do what you need to do and go’