It’s a year since we went into a changing room but it’s good to return

IT IS 10.30am on Monday and I am standing barefoot in a John Lewis fitting room, shimmying myself into a pair of Levi’s ultra-high-rise ribcage jeans. This is not normally how I begin my working week, but it has been over a year since I was last in a fitting room, and now that we have to start thinking about bottom-half dressing again, I’ve found myself in need of new denim.

I’m clearly not alone. There were around 50 people queuing outside the Westfield White City store before it opened at 10am, and many joined me in the womenswear department.

Not only was yesterday the first time that non-essential stores have been open since early January, but the changing rooms were back for the first time since the initial lockdown in March 2020. But the 2021 fitting room experience is very different. For a start, I’m wearing a face covering, as is de rigueur indoors these days, and my hands are freshly sanitised.

There was no queue, and I found the cubicle immaculately clean. After I left with my chosen jeans, it will have been thoroughly sanitised before another shopper used it. The items I’m not buying will be quarantined for two days before going back on the shop floor.

It makes for a refreshing change from the discarded plastic hangers and dust bunnies that occupied so many changing rooms in the past. I would have been prepared to accept it though – for all of the efficiencies of online shopping, there are some things for which a brick-and-mortar store is essential, and jeans are one of them.

Of course, I could order six pairs online, and return the ones that don’t fit, but that requires a big financial outlay and I just don’t have time to spend lunch breaks in a Post Office queue. Trying jeans in-store means I also have the help and expertise of a sales assistant.

You’ll need to allow much more time to use a post-covid fitting room. Health and safety guidelines recommend that customer numbers are limited, and that cubicles are left empty for several minutes between users. Many stores will keep every other cubicle closed to allow for social distancing, with a separate entry and exit to avoid bottlenecks, so shoppers should expect queues as well. You may also find less stock available to try on, as shops will have to quarantine clothes before allowing another customer to try them on, though some may sanitise garments by steaming them instead. And you won’t be allowed to bring a friend in with you for a second opinion. Nor can we expect every store to reopen its fitting rooms – this is only permitted in England; Government guidance in Scotland and Wales insists that fitting rooms remain closed. Meeting the required criteria is a major undertaking for retailers, so many have chosen not to reopen fitting rooms for now. At Westfield, John Lewis and Mango had fitting rooms open, but they were cordoned off at Zara and Primark. H&M had just one of two fitting rooms open.

At Marks & Spencer they are closed but it is offering in-store appointments for contact-free bra fittings. The thing uniting every store though, was a sense of excitement among staff and shoppers. With masks, sanitation stations and changingroom protocols, this is not the shopping experience we know, but after another long lockdown, it’s good to be back.