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LONDON, June 15 (Reuters) - After 83 days of coronavirus
lockdown, non-essential stores in England reopen their doors on
Monday, hoping to get the tills ringing again and start a long
road to recovery.
The stores have been closed since March 23 when Prime
Minister Boris Johnson imposed a lockdown to stem the spread of
the virus. While outdoor markets and car showrooms reopened on
June 1, Monday will be the big return to business for retailers.
It only applies to England, with stores in Scotland and
Wales waiting for guidance from their devolved administrations
on when they can resume trading. Non-essential stores in
Northern Ireland reopened on Friday.
Getting shoppers spending again is key to Britain's recovery
after official data on Friday showed the economy shrank by a
quarter over March and April.
The British Retail Consortium reckons the lockdown has cost
non-food stores 1.8 billion pounds ($2.3 billion) a week in lost
revenues.
Stores will look very different from before the lockdown as
they will have to observe hygiene and social distancing
regulations. Shoppers face queues outside, restricted numbers
inside and limitations on trying products.
Some chains are reopening all their English stores, while
others are taking a phased approach.
Fashion chain Primark, which with no online offer
has not taken a penny in Britain during the lockdown, plans to
open all its 153 stores in England.
Marks & Spencer, which has traded online and kept
its food halls open, will reopen the majority of its clothing
and homewares selling space.
Rival Next is reopening just 25 stores, while
department store chain John Lewis is reopening just
two. Electricals retailer Dixons Carphone will open 153
Currys PC World stores.
Researcher Springboard said the number of shoppers in early
June indicated "a huge amount" of pent-up demand among consumers
for shopping in stores.
However, industry executives are cautious.
"The reopening of the stores is not 'now COVID-19 is over'
... For a lot of people there's still some reticence to go out,"
said John Bason, finance chief of Primark owner Associated
British Foods.
($1 = 0.7973 pounds)
(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Mark Potter)
