TOWN WELCOMES BACK ITS SHOPPERS
SHOPS and businesses have started to reopen in Carmarthen.
Non-essential retailers and markets are allowed to open again, although cafes, restaurants, pubs, and services such as hairdressing and beauty salons are not yet permitted to open.
As well as some shops, public conveniences are open again and parking remains free in the town at county council-owned car parks.
A huge effort has been under way to prepare the town centre to welcome shoppers and visitors back safely.
A comprehensive toolkit of resources has been prepared by Carmarthenshire Council along with support from Carmarthen Town Council to support every retail and business premises, providing advice to help them safely open their doors again.
Although back to business, town centres will look and feel a little different with queuing systems, sanitisation stations and sneeze screens in place in shops to protect staff and shoppers. Carmarthen Mayor Gareth John said the steps to reopen the town have been weeks in the making with traders involved with plans.
Shoppers will see social distancing markers on the floor around town reminding them to stick to the two metre rule.
Along with signage, there are plans to erect more hand sanitising stations around the town.
Mr John said: “The message is Carmarthen is open, but for people to shop local and stay safe.
“It is a difficult period for traders and the aim is to now build confidence to bring footfall back into the town.
“It’s not the same world as it was before and things will be different for some time.
“Carmarthen Town Council has been working with traders and I have met with several organisations such as the chamber of trade and commerce.”
Another idea being looked at is to allow those traders who perhaps cannot enforce social distancing in their premises to trade in the open air.
“What we are looking at is to use Nott Square and Guildhall Square for traders to come out and do business.
“We know some premises are too small to effectively have social distancing so this is one way to help them get back trading.
“We want Carmarthen to be ahead of the curve and we have spent weeks listening to traders and trying to help all we can.
“We don’t have all the answers and there are bound to be more issues along the way but this is a start.
“We want to get footfall back into the town and in doing that the traders, especially the independents, to be confident and safe reopening.”
Carmarthenshire Council leader, councillor Emlyn Dole, speaking about Carmarthenshire as a whole, said: “We are so pleased that shops and markets are now able to prepare for reopening, after such a long and difficult period of closure.
“Our town centres are vital to our local economy, providing services and employment for local people.
“It’s so important that we support our traders and help them get back on their feet.
“This will have been a most difficult time for them and we should show our support by shopping locally.
“That said, we also need to be responsible and look out for one another – we have worked incredibly hard to support businesses to re-open safely and it’s now down to us to respect the measures that have been put in place and continue social distancing to allow everyone, staff and shoppers, to stay safe.”
He added: “Alongside the re-opening of town centres, we have worked with town and community councils to prepare for the return of more outdoor spaces and look forward to further updates in the coming week as we start getting back to some kind of normality.”