On 15 June non-essential retail shops opened their doors for the first time in 3 months. All non-essential retailers are able to reopen provided they follow the UK Government’s guidelines to make shops ‘Covid-19 secure’. That means retail outlets have to carry out risk assessment in accordance with guidelines from the Health and Safety Executive. Employers are also encouraged to consult staff and union representatives and inform all employees about findings of the risk assessment. Those with more than 50 employees need to publish the assessment on their website.
Shops also need to follow hygiene procedures to keep staff and customers safe. This includes regular reminders, frequent hand washing, cleaning of surfaces at self-checkouts, trolleys, fitting rooms or staff handheld services, and how many customers can enter the premises at a time.
Retailers need to display proper signage to maintain hygiene and help those with disabilities to navigate these measures. Fitting rooms have to be closed wherever possible.
Not only are businesses tasked with keeping customers safe, shoppers are also being urged to ‘exercise restraint’ by not trying on clothing or testing goods.
Surinder Josan, a DIY store and banquet hall owner, spoke to Asian Voice about the steps he is taking to keep his customers safe. While for many it is all new, Surinder has already been taking these steps over the past few months in his shop.
Surinder owns two family-run businesses in Smethwick, West Midlands. A hardware store- All Seasons DIY, started by his parents, and Seasons Palace, a banqueting venue for weddings and parties.
The 55-year-old grew up helping in their family DIY shop, though he wanted a different career path, after a degree in electronics. He was studying for a Master’s in IT, when his father developed a heart problem, and Surinder had to take charge, streamlining the way the DIY shop ran, and developing two thriving businesses. The whole family is involved in the business, including his wife, his children (when not studying), his mother, and his father until he died a few years ago.
When Surinder first heard about coronavirus in late December, he was afraid for his banqueting venue. So, in late January or early February, he closed the 200-capacity venue, and convinced customers to move their bookings to 2021. While there was a loss of income, he thought that it was in the best interest of everyone’s safety.
Surinder then faced issues with his shop. “As far as the shop goes, the biggest problem is that my mother is elderly - her DNA is part of the shop and asking her to step away from it was a big no-no. The only way to get her away from it was to close the shop. So, when they announced the pubs and schools were all closed, we bit the bullet and shut it too.”
Putting the time to good use, Surinder decided to carry out a shop refit. But he put notices up saying if anyone needed hardware items or urgent repair work, they could help. It started with a few phone calls, but soon there was a steady stream of people wanting to buy items.
“It also dawned on us that hardware stores were allowed to remain open, so we thought: ‘If we’re going to do this, we will have to do it properly,’” he said.
That decision led Surinder and family to put some safety measures in place for themselves as well as their customers.
“We moved all the plants we usually have outside into the back garden to stop people crowding around them. We put lines outside the shop. We also barricaded the area by the till, so customers come in one by one, tell us what they want, then we go and get it. We reduced the contactless payments minimum from £5 to £1 to make it easier for people to limit contact. We also started cleaning the money using wipes.”
They cut down opening hours from 9am-7pm to 10am-4:30pm.
Surinder and his family have a few other changes planned for the immediate future, though he admits that he is less clear about the banqueting venue. If the government said we could open, I have thought about how I would do it and keep people separate. You could do it with the tables, you could do it with the toilets, and the kitchen and even the stage. But how do you do it on a dance floor? Unless you draw circles on it and tell people to stay inside them.
“So, the only way I can think you could do it is if instead of having 200 people you just have 60-70 and use more of the outdoors as opposed to the indoors. These are some of the thoughts, but I have got to do it, so we are safe and whoever is with us, the caterers, the guests, are safe too. The last thing I would want is for there to be an outbreak.”
In the meantime, he plans to offer the unused space to a local school, free of charge, if they need more room in order to welcome children back.
With so many adjustments needed for the ‘new normal’ in shops and venues, Surinder acknowledges that it can get confusing. But he says that there is a lot of information available, both from the UK Government and other organisations, to help businesses put the right measures in place to keep themselves, their staff and their customers safe.
For safer workplaces guidance, please see: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19
UK Government has published Covid-19 secure guidance to support businesses to reopen and for workers to feel confident, safe and empowered to return to work. If you run a business and would like to know which of the coronavirus support schemes you are eligible for, you can use the business support finder tool at https://www.gov.uk/business-coronavirus-support-finder.
It takes just minutes to complete and it will help you easily find support for your business.
