Additional retailers to reopen from June 15th

[Starmill]

There is absolutely no evidence that face masks make any difference to the spread of the virus, unless you are fully suited and booted in PPE.

This isn't true. There's firm evidence that cloth face coverings prevent infected people from transmitting the disease as much as they would otherwise.

It's not similar to PPE, which is there to protect its wearer.

The effect increases significantly the more people wear them:

Mathematical modelling suggests that a face covering that is 60% effective at blocking viral transmission and is worn by 60% of the population will reduce R0 to below 1.0.26 This leaves plenty of room for error as people make their own imperfect coverings from old clothing and as some people either cannot or will not wear a face covering. Not all respiratory viruses are filtered equally; masks appear to be more efficient at blocking Sars‐Cov‐2 than rhinoviruses or adenoviruses, for example.27 Materials scientists have shown that whilst different fabrics are more or less efficient at blocking particle transmission, cotton weaves with high thread count or a double layer of two different fabrics (eg, cotton‐flannel) typically provides high filtration efficiency

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[Bletchleyite]

This isn't true. There's firm evidence that face coverings prevent infected people from transmitting the disease.

Agreed, it's very much that way round. Like almost everything to do with this virus, we need a good dose of altruism.

 

[Tom B]

There are several "non-essential" businesses near me which have re-opened. I suppose that, since the Government have lost the plot and lost the respect of the public on the matter, this was inevitable.

There aren't many yet, but it's likely to move much more that way in future, it's not only cheaper but easier, as most of the stuff you buy from Argos is probably easier to take home by car than on public transport, so out of town sites that already have car parks are more useful overall.

On the other hand, there is a significant market in inner cities I feel, where people don't have cars yet want to be able to pick up bulky items locally. The Sainsburys near me, an express format, offers argos pickup. So too does the one next to my workplace - in the middle of an ostensibly 'up and coming' area full of 'emerging independant boutique flats' of the type I can't stand. It is useful to be able to pick things up during your lunchbreak.
I'm sure that they are clever with their stock-holding, and keep things very lean and balance out the cost of space vs the impact on customer service. Though their response times are impressive - I looked at ordering something last week and (at around 8pm in the evening) it told me that if I ordered now, I could collect next-day at 10am.

There's a general cultural thing - especially in cities and with young people who are out during the day - towards click-and-collect services, with the unpredictable timings of private delivery firms.

As to Amazon - it's convenient, but it depends on what you're buying. The same goes for ebay or any online shop really.
I am on a couple of forums about a particular make of car - so many posters have bought something off ebay and the part is wrong, or poor quality etc and then they usually give up trying to jump through the hoops for a refund. I ring up the local motor-factor, pop around 90 mins later (if it needs ordered in), and if there's any question as to which part is right he gives me both to try; I bring back the unused one next day and pay for the one I used. Can't get that service online!

 

[SS4]

There are several "non-essential" businesses near me which have re-opened. I suppose that, since the Government have lost the plot and lost the respect of the public on the matter, this was inevitable.

I disagree - to have lost the plot you needed to have it in the first place! Whilst I can forgive some errors in judgement at the start as few knew it was coming but the response been bungled time and time again.

On the other hand, there is a significant market in inner cities I feel, where people don't have cars yet want to be able to pick up bulky items locally. The Sainsburys near me, an express format, offers argos pickup. So too does the one next to my workplace - in the middle of an ostensibly 'up and coming' area full of 'emerging independant boutique flats' of the type I can't stand. It is useful to be able to pick things up during your lunchbreak.
I'm sure that they are clever with their stock-holding, and keep things very lean and balance out the cost of space vs the impact on customer service. Though their response times are impressive - I looked at ordering something last week and (at around 8pm in the evening) it told me that if I ordered now, I could collect next-day at 10am.

There's a general cultural thing - especially in cities and with young people who are out during the day - towards click-and-collect services, with the unpredictable timings of private delivery firms.[/quote]

I agree, we all have our horror stories with online deliveries and then disputes boil down to he said, she said. Click and collect largely (but not completely) eliminates the issue). I've been using argos click and collect a lot more since they introduced the option. I also find they're competitive on price with Amazon although not range.

As to Amazon - it's convenient, but it depends on what you're buying. The same goes for ebay or any online shop really.
I am on a couple of forums about a particular make of car - so many posters have bought something off ebay and the part is wrong, or poor quality etc and then they usually give up trying to jump through the hoops for a refund. I ring up the local motor-factor, pop around 90 mins later (if it needs ordered in), and if there's any question as to which part is right he gives me both to try; I bring back the unused one next day and pay for the one I used. Can't get that service online!

A lot of online marketplaces are too slow to remove bad actors on their sites in my experience. You also never know the quality of the goods

 

[DelayRepay]

I've always made good use of Argos Click and Collect - it's very convenient and sometimes I'll pay a little more to avoid the hassle of visiting multiple shops. I'm also a big fan of Amazon's lockers in normal times. Since lockdown, I've been using Amazon a lot more because I get free delivery through Prime, and stuff comes quickly. I've not used Argos because their delivery fees make ordering small items uneconomical and they don't have a click and collect point in my nearest Sainsburys.

I think I'll carry on as I am for now. Even when the shops re-open, I'll be working at home so no problem with waiting in for deliveries. And I hate the supermarket queues and 'rules' so don't want to inflict myself to more of the same at other shops. I need some summer clothes but not sure how practical clothes shopping will be - I expect it will take all day if you want to look in a few shops to see what's available before deciding what to buy.

If the high street stores want to survive, they need to take a long hard look at their click and collect and delivery options. During the lockdown, I needed a new frying pan following an accident involving some bacon and a Zoom call... Dunelm were quoting 3 weeks for delivery and were charging a fee. Amazon could supply one the next day with no fee (I admit I do pay through my Prime membership). So it's obvious who is going to get my business!

I think Tesco will do well out of this. Before the crisis there was much talk of their large out of town stores being too big. Now they will probably sell a lot more non-food items, as people buy more things like pots and pans, clothes and electrical goods as part of the weekly shop, given it will be much easier than shopping for non-food separate. I do wonder if we'll see Tesco try to re-start their Tesco Direct service, along similar lines to Argos/Sainsburys, with a huge range of items available for click and collect in their physical stores?

 

[underbank]

A lot of online marketplaces are too slow to remove bad actors on their sites in my experience. You also never know the quality of the goods

That's why I try to use Amazon Prime sellers. Buying randomly from Amazon or ebay sellers can be a lottery. Prime sellers are usually better vetted and returns/refunds are a lot easier if you've bought via Prime as you return to Amazon and get almost immediate refund (often as soon as you've handed in the parcel to the post office or hermes shop).

 

[LAX54]

Agreed, it's very much that way round. Like almost everything to do with this virus, we need a good dose of altruism.

It has been said that masks are not to protect the wearer, but those around you, however if you sneeze, and you have a lose fitting mask, then the 'droplets' can and do escape out of the sides, although of course not directly ahead of you.
Those that think they protect the wear, maybe in for a surprise !
also, went into Town today, as we needed to pay a visit to the Bank, which proved fruitless, due to the line waiting to get in, there were at least 10 waiting, this mixed in with the line for the shop next door but one ! Made me think, how on earth will, or would this work, when all the shops reopen ? looks like it will be a right mess ! Many more will close permenently, with the result of more 'shopping at home', even if was reduced to 1M, it would still make many shops out of bounds for disabled people etc, how many will wait in line for 15 mins at 1 shop, 10 at another, 20 at the store next door ......

 

[route101]

There are several "non-essential" businesses near me which have re-opened. I suppose that, since the Government have lost the plot and lost the respect of the public on the matter, this was inevitable.



On the other hand, there is a significant market in inner cities I feel, where people don't have cars yet want to be able to pick up bulky items locally. The Sainsburys near me, an express format, offers argos pickup. So too does the one next to my workplace - in the middle of an ostensibly 'up and coming' area full of 'emerging independant boutique flats' of the type I can't stand. It is useful to be able to pick things up during your lunchbreak.
I'm sure that they are clever with their stock-holding, and keep things very lean and balance out the cost of space vs the impact on customer service. Though their response times are impressive - I looked at ordering something last week and (at around 8pm in the evening) it told me that if I ordered now, I could collect next-day at 10am.

There's a general cultural thing - especially in cities and with young people who are out during the day - towards click-and-collect services, with the unpredictable timings of private delivery firms.

As to Amazon - it's convenient, but it depends on what you're buying. The same goes for ebay or any online shop really.
I am on a couple of forums about a particular make of car - so many posters have bought something off ebay and the part is wrong, or poor quality etc and then they usually give up trying to jump through the hoops for a refund. I ring up the local motor-factor, pop around 90 mins later (if it needs ordered in), and if there's any question as to which part is right he gives me both to try; I bring back the unused one next day and pay for the one I used. Can't get that service online!

Noticed a American Candy shop had reopened. Wouldnt call that essential.

I prefer Click and Collect , delivery times to my house are unpredictable, staying in all day for it to come,

Have used Amazon Lockers , though not everything can use them lockers, would be cool if you could pick up non amazon stuff like DPD from Amazon lockers.

 

[Mag_seven]

Noticed a American Candy shop had reopened. Wouldnt call that essential.

There is no definition of what is an essential shop - just a list of shops that are allowed to be open and those that aren't. An American Candy shop is a food shop so is therefore allowed to open.

 

[underbank]

Noticed a American Candy shop had reopened. Wouldnt call that essential.

The word "essential" was never in the official rules/guidance for shops/shopping. It was another example of the misreporting by the media. There was a list of shops allowed to open and a list of shops that had to close.

Like the way "businesses" were never told to close - we had the same scenario of people wondering which businesses were essential. All businesses (other than prohibited shops) could stay open if they could social distance their staff and customers. The media got their reporting of that wrong too!

We had "key" workers when it came to school provision for "key" worker children. We also had "essential" travel which was said by the London mayor for public transport. The media widely misreported and extended those two words into lots of other irrelevant areas they didn't refer to.

 

[Carlisle]

There is no definition of what is an essential shop - just a list of shops that are allowed to be open and those that aren't. An American Candy shop is a food shop so is therefore allowed to open.

Yes, i believe homeware was recently additionally added to the essential list allowing the likes of Dunelm, Matalan & Ikea to reopen in England anyway

 

[Tom B]

The definition of 'essential' will also depend on timing. For three weeks, clothing probably isn't essential - if a t-shirt wears out or your socks become holey, you can get by a little while. After a few months, the need will be greater.

I don't know about Tesco Direct re-starting, but I know that sales of non-food have gone up significantly. With restrictions and queues, people would rather pick up (say) compost on their weekly shop. Dotcom are expanding too.

 

[sheff1]

Like the way "businesses" were never told to close - we had the same scenario of people wondering which businesses were essential. All businesses (other than prohibited shops) could stay open if they could social distance their staff and customers.

"Social distancing" was (and still is) not part of the legislation {in England at least).

 

[37424]

I wonder how much of a Retail Bloodbath there is going to be? caught the end of of an interview last week with an independent retail owner who's business was almost totally reliant on office worker footfall in London and he said he wouldn't even attempt to re-open his business he realised it was finished. A lot of large retail companies may well use it as an excuse to close their branches which were already marginal, and despite the company I work for doing well out of covid, there are already strong rumours that some of stand alone stores which are not scheduled to re-open on the 15th may never in fact reopen.

 

[Pete_uk]

Coffee shops and tea rooms are going to be stuffed

 

[SS4]

The word "essential" was never in the official rules/guidance for shops/shopping. It was another example of the misreporting by the media. There was a list of shops allowed to open and a list of shops that had to close.

Like the way "businesses" were never told to close - we had the same scenario of people wondering which businesses were essential. All businesses (other than prohibited shops) could stay open if they could social distance their staff and customers. The media got their reporting of that wrong too!

We had "key" workers when it came to school provision for "key" worker children. We also had "essential" travel which was said by the London mayor for public transport. The media widely misreported and extended those two words into lots of other irrelevant areas they didn't refer to.

The media misrepresenting things? Say it ain't so, that's never happened before

 

[sheff1]

Coffee shops and tea rooms are going to be stuffed

Two new independant coffee shops/cafes have opened within 0.25 mile of my house in the last fortnight (takeaway only). Meanwhile, longstanding independant outlets remain closed, as do Costa & Greggs.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Coffee shops and tea rooms are going to be stuffed

Are they opening for indoor consumption straight away? If they are, that's...brave. Ours only opened this week for outdoor consumption (as opposed to takeaway) and we have no active cases of Covid at all. Ours only open for indoor consumption on 15 June, but at least our social distance limit will be 1m by then.

 

[nlogax]

Two new independant coffee shops/cafes have opened within 0.25 mile of my house in the last fortnight (takeaway only). Meanwhile, longstanding independant outlets remain closed, as do Costa & Greggs.

Greggs will soon return with 800 stores reopened within a fortnight and - fingers crossed - the remaining ~1300 stores by July.

 

[johnnychips]

Two new independant coffee shops/cafes have opened within 0.25 mile of my house in the last fortnight (takeaway only). Meanwhile, longstanding independant outlets remain closed, as do Costa & Greggs.

The vape kiosk opened near Castle Square today with a table outside. No doubt he can justify it by selling pop as well. Good for him!

 

[trebor79]

I read that Waterstones will "quarantine" books for 72 hours if they are touched and not purchased. How will that work then? Will staff train customers in order to grab any offending novels and drop them into sealed plastic bags?

I also read that. Totally pointless, how will they know whether or not the staff putting them back on the shelves after 3 days are infected or not?
Catching COVID from a book seems.to be to be stretching credulity in any case.

 

[Iskra]

Two new independant coffee shops/cafes have opened within 0.25 mile of my house in the last fortnight (takeaway only). Meanwhile, longstanding independant outlets remain closed, as do Costa & Greggs.

Costa has got 500 stores open now, with more in the pipeline.

I think normality will return pretty quickly, too many businesses are simply too marginal to survive otherwise.

 

[Bantamzen]

I read that Waterstones will "quarantine" books for 72 hours if they are touched and not purchased. How will that work then? Will staff train customers in order to grab any offending novels and drop them into sealed plastic bags?

I also read that. Totally pointless, how will they know whether or not the staff putting them back on the shelves after 3 days are infected or not?
Catching COVID from a book seems.to be to be stretching credulity in any case.

This if true it is pure insanity. Given that many books will only be out on shelves in small numbers, and that picking up books in order to see if they are what you might like to read is an integral part of the business they might as well just shut up shop and just sell e-books.

 

[Bletchleyite]

This if true it is pure insanity. Given that many books will only be out on shelves in small numbers, and that picking up books in order to see if they are what you might like to read is an integral part of the business they might as well just shut up shop and just sell e-books.

I think I prefer reading real books rather than e-books, but you are indeed correct - the only reason to go to a physical chain bookshop like that (rather than a small independent whose business you may want to support) is to browse the books, which involves picking them up and looking at them. If you don't want to do that, Amazon is your friend, and I see no particular reason to support any one given chain over another one - chain stores are chain stores, whether physical or online. Just like I see no particular reason to be loyal to Sainsbury's over Tesco.

 

[underbank]

I think I prefer reading real books rather than e-books, but you are indeed correct - the only reason to go to a physical chain bookshop like that (rather than a small independent whose business you may want to support) is to browse the books, which involves picking them up and looking at them. If you don't want to do that, Amazon is your friend, and I see no particular reason to support any one given chain over another one - chain stores are chain stores, whether physical or online. Just like I see no particular reason to be loyal to Sainsbury's over Tesco.

But you can still pick up the books - presumably instead of putting them back on the shelf, you'll put them somewhere else for quarantine/reshelving later.

That will give other customers peace of mind and will probably increase sales overall as some customers wouldn't want to risk handling a book recently handled by other customers.

 

[RichT54]

Anything that discourages me from buying more books is a good thing. I reckon that if I stacked all the books that I have bought but haven't read yet into a single pile, it would almost be as tall as me!

 

[LAX54]

This if true it is pure insanity. Given that many books will only be out on shelves in small numbers, and that picking up books in order to see if they are what you might like to read is an integral part of the business they might as well just shut up shop and just sell e-books.

Just do as my wife has done for years, after leaving each shop, or touching an ATM etc, a quick squirt of gel on the hands, a tiny bottle can last for ages is the main infection route not hand to mouth/eyes/nose? or someone coughing/sneezing in your face, normal breathing is not an issue, so a quick squirt..sorted

 

[Bantamzen]

But you can still pick up the books - presumably instead of putting them back on the shelf, you'll put them somewhere else for quarantine/reshelving later.

That will give other customers peace of mind and will probably increase sales overall as some customers wouldn't want to risk handling a book recently handled by other customers.

As I said upthread, many books are displayed in low quantities. So it would only need a handful of people to browse similar books in a single morning for them to be off the the shelves for days. Its really not sustainable for even a short period of time. And what about the books immediately to each side of the one picked up? Should they also be removed in case of accidental contact?

This is just another example of taking a problem, and creating a nonsensical solution that creates more problems than it solves.

Just do as my wife has done for years, after leaving each shop, or touching an ATM etc, a quick squirt of gel on the hands, a tiny bottle can last for ages is the main infection route not hand to mouth/eyes/nose? or someone coughing/sneezing in your face, normal breathing is not an issue, so a quick squirt..sorted

So perhaps a dispenser at the entrance to allow people to cleanse their hands before browsing? Nah! Way too sensible and obvious....

 

[LAX54]

As I said upthread, many books are displayed in low quantities. So it would only need a handful of people to browse similar books in a single morning for them to be off the the shelves for days. Its really not sustainable for even a short period of time. And what about the books immediately to each side of the one picked up? Should they also be removed in case of accidental contact?

This is just another example of taking a problem, and creating a nonsensical solution that creates more problems than it solves.



So perhaps a dispenser at the entrance to allow people to cleanse their hands before browsing? Nah! Way too sensible and obvious....

That would make sense, and a fairly cheap answer too ! but then you would also get.. I am not touching that, someone else's germs are all over it ! which is where your own small bottle comes in..use dispenser on way in, your own bottle after leaving

 

[LAX54]

The media misrepresenting things? Say it ain't so, that's never happened before

Are they not the ones that started all this ! ?