Queues at Primark as stores to stay open to 10pm
Primark #Primark
There were queues outside branches of Primark, JD Sports and TK Maxx on Monday as non-essential shops reopened in England and Wales after more than three months.
Beauty salons, barbers and pub gardens also reported a surge in bookings.
Footfall is predicted to rise 50% this week as shops hope too woo shoppers back and recoup lost sales, but it is unclear if the demand will last.
There are also fears snow in parts of the UK will deter shoppers on Monday.
Shoppers began queuing at 7am at Primark shops in London’s Oxford Street and Birmingham as the fashion retailer reopened 161 stores across the country.
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Like others it is extending its open hours from 7am to 10pm to help prevent crowding in stores.
Primark boss Paul Marchant said: “We have been working really hard to get our stores ready to open safely; we are fully stocked with everything our customers have been waiting for.
“We ask our customers to continue supporting us and be mindful of our in-store measures, in particular if queuing outside and in-store.”
Selfridges queue (and that’s only one – there’s another down the side street) pic.twitter.com/ra7QPsqCG1
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There were also queues outside Selfridges in London and Birmingham, as well as at TK Maxx in Cardiff and JD Sports in Newcastle.
Outside the Oak Inn pub in Coventry, drinkers even queued up outside before midnight on Sunday to buy their first pints when outdoor service resumed.
Blink Brow Bar, a beauty salon chain with 21 outlets, said it had seen lots of “pent-up demand” ahead of Monday.
“We’ve had 1,000 clients on our waiting list from February. As soon as the appointments were up, we became fully-booked very quickly for the next few weeks,” boss Vanita Parti told the BBC.
“That’s a really exciting sign that people are so ready to step out of the house and indulge in a little self-care.”
Julian Metcalf, chief executive of sushi chain Itsu, said he was hopeful demand would pick up as shoppers returned to the High Street but said he felt “hesitant, a bit nervous”.
“It’s scary,” he told the BBC. “But there’s a lot to be grateful for; the vaccination programme in our country is little short of remarkable, so there’s no reason that we can’t come back with real strength and positivity.”
Temporary surge?
John Edgar the boss of department store chain Fenwicks warned bad weather in some parts of England and Wales could affect demand on Monday. He also said some shoppers would remain wary of heading back to the High Street for health reasons.
“It remains to be seen how many people choose to stay away in the short-term because of nervousness, but we believe that most retailers are offering a very safe environment to go shopping… so people should not be afraid,” he told the BBC.
The British Retail Consortium says businesses have spent hundreds of millions of pounds to make shops Covid-secure. Some like John Lewis will have “customer service hosts” to manage customer numbers, while Ikea has planned a staggered entry system and more frequent cleaning routines.
According to analyst Springboard, across all UK shopping destinations footfall last week was 56.5% lower than in 2019 but more than double the level in the same week in 2020. It predicts footfall will rise by 50% this week, and 10% next week.
Dr Gordon Fletcher, retail expert from the University of Salford, said: “When the shoppers return to the High Street there will invariably be a surge of foot traffic as the built up tensions of lockdown need to vented.
“The biggest risk for the old and new independent High Street retailers is that any surge will only be temporary as many shoppers quickly return to their increasingly refined ecommerce habits built up over the past 12 months.”