Garden Centres to stay open during 2nd English lockdown
From Thursday only essential retailers such as food shops, supermarkets, garden centres and certain other retailers providing essential goods and services can remain open.
Garden centres staying open also means that as a sector we are continuing to optimise pre-Christmas sales, and are avoiding the inevitable influx of customers that will come once lockdown is lifted. With more time at our disposal, garden centre customers can spread their shopping over many weeks, helping to minimise the amount of customers in-store at one time and therefore making the enforcement of social distancing much easier to achieve.
I think it is highly commendable how garden retailers have adapted to this ‘new normal’ and continued to demonstrate why we should stay open during this second lockdown. I have seen many examples of garden retailers going above and beyond to ensue that customers feel confident and relaxed shopping in-store. From increased aisle widths, traffic light systems highlighting the busiest/quietest time to shop, one-way systems and increased sanitisation, we really should be proud of what we have achieved.