Capacity crunch hits Oxford Street giants

SOME of Britain’s flagship stores on Oxford Street only have the capacity for fewer than 100 customers at a time, prompting experts to fear for their future.

A Sunday Telegraph investigation found that Marks & Spencer could only permit between 70 and 90 customers at a time, with Urban Outfitters only allowing 76.

While larger outlets such as Selfridges have introduced a 2,500 limit, stores like Niketown – which operates over several floors – will only welcome 249 customers at a time.

The limits are part of measures many of the stores have been forced to take in recent weeks to comply with Covid-19 restrictions. They include additional hand washing facilities, two metre floor markings and limiting the number of customers.

While reducing the number of shoppers is necessary for public health, some retail experts have warned social distancing measures could hit the profitability of stores on the London street, which typically welcome thousands of people each day.

Dr Gordon Fletcher, a retail expert at the University of Salford Business School, told The Telegraph that the high cost of retail space combined with reduced footfall was likely to have a large influence on the day-to-day running of stores.

“The region relies on a volume of traffic coming through every day. Where it is being strictly enforced in terms of counting in and counting out, that will have a significant impact,” he said.

Marks & Spencer was approached for comment.