UK retailers urge government for ‘further clarity’ on store reopenings

The UK’s trade association has urged the government to provide ‘further clarity’ about its plans to slowly reopen the country.

Prime minister Boris Johnson outlined on Sunday evening the next steps in the country’s easing of its lockdown - an announcement many criticised as being too vague.

In the live televised address, Johnson said that ‘non-essential’ stores could reopen from 1 June. They have been closed since 23 March in a bid to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Helen Dickinson, CEO of the British Retail Consortium, called for “further clarity” from the government in the coming days. “We need a plan for shopping as well as shops - this means a plan that allows safe navigation both to and through our retail centres - and we look forward to continuing to work closely with the Government to support this process,” she said in a statement.

UK retail unsurprisingly suffered its greatest ever decline in footfall in the four weeks from April 5 to May 2 - down 80.1 percent year-on-year.

“We share the view of the prime minister that safety is what counts when determining when shops can reopen. Already retailers around the country are working on plans for reopening safely and with all necessary social distancing measures in place,” Dickinson said.

“The BRC and Usdaw have supported this process with our own social distancing guidance, learning from the experiences of thousands of supermarkets and other essential retailers. It is vital that the reopening of stores is based on who can do so safely, as opposed to trying to draw lines in terms of different sizes or types of shop.”

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