RIGHT ON QUEUE!
SHOPPERS FLOCK BACK AS STORES REOPEN
THOUSANDS flocked to stores across Greater Manchester as they heeded Boris Johnson’s call to hit the shops as the economy merges from lockdown.
The first day when ‘nonessential’ shops were allowed to open their doors brought out the public eager to spend.
Social-distancing guidelines were in force throughout the region as shoppers queued to get in stores which were operating on reduced capacity to keep everyone safe.
Many stores displayed signs such as TK Maxx at Crown Point in Denton, which stated: “It’s lovely to have you back”.
Some customers wore face coverings – now mandatory on public transport but not for shopping.
Trafford Centre operations director, Gavin Prior, said: “There has been a wonderful vibe since even before we opened, with socially distanced queues forming for brands like Primark and Zara from early this morning.
“Our visitors have been playing their part by staying socially distanced and following all the other safety measures we have in place to make sure all intu centres are safe places to visit and work. It’s great to see all our teams’ hard work and planning come into action
“In preparation for this week, we carried out some research with 2,000 regular shopping centre visitors which found that many people were looking forward to returning to shops if there were the right safety measures and we have certainly seen that come true.
“It is clear from the queues that people have been excited about returning to the shops and we are doing everything we can to make that experience both safe and joyful.
“Footfall across all our centres is naturally lower than the same day last year but by 2pm it had grown by 218 per cent compared to last Monday and we expect the number of visitors to steadily increase towards the weekend as more of us look to venture out to the shops and more brands reopen.
“We’d like to thank all the teams at intu and all the brands in our centres who have been working incredibly hard to
There has been a wonderful vibe since even before we opened Trafford Centre operations director Gavin Prior
make sure intu centres are safe places to visit and work.” There were also big queues at the Arndale ahead of its doors opening at 9am. It was busy at Stockport’s Peel Centre. Where the biggest queues were at TK Maxx and Home Sense.
The vast majority of people respected the socialdistancing rules. The queue was well spaced and marked out
with tape, and staff keeping things in check.
At The Rock in Bury, there were hand sanitising stations in place for shoppers.
Most stores were limiting the number of customers allowed in at a time, to maintain social distancing. Only 17 customers were allowed in the Deichmann store at The Rock.
Victoria Nichol, manager at the Merseyway centre in Stockport, said: “The retailers are so happy to get back to work, so happy to resume some normality and really excited to see their local customers who they really enjoy speaking to.”
Kelly Hurst, manager at Quayside MediaCityUK, said 70pc of stores were open.
It wasn’t just the big stores which welcomed back customers. Many independent traders also reopened their doors..
James Moore opened his Cash Generator at Salford City Shopping Centre again.
He said: “Opening is long overdue, I’m with the stance that we need to get the economy back up and running.”
In Stockport’s Little Underbank, Donna Law was excited to be back in business at her 50s fashion boutique Cherry Girl’s Wardrobe.
She said: “It’s just lovely to be back in the shop.”
“I’m just telling people if you really do want to try something on with a view to purchasing because you want to make sure it fits, that’s absolutely fine, but if you’re just trying something on to see if it looks okay, I’m discouraging it”.