ALL CHANGE!
They’ve been out of bounds for a YEAR... now fitting rooms are set to reopen
CLOTHES shops will be allowed to reopen their changing rooms for the first time in more than a year when restrictions on non-essential stores are lifted on April 12.
It is seen as a significant boost for high street retailers battling to regain market share lost to online competitors during repeated lockdowns.
Shops were ordered to keep changing rooms shut ‘wherever possible’ when they reopened last year.
But new guidance from the Business Department yesterday allows for them to be reopened provided shops introduce measures to halt transmission of the virus.
Store managers are advised to deploy a staff member to control entry to changing rooms and only one person at a time will be allowed to use a cubicle.
Managers are advised to leave a gap of ‘several minutes’ between customers and cubicles should be cleaned regularly, but stores will not have to quarantine clothes that have been tried on but not bought.
Ministers hope the change will encourage shoppers back to the high street.
In another change to the guidance, betting shops will have to collect contact details of customers in the same way as pubs and restaurants. The data will help track contacts of those who develop Covid.