Halfords
Halfords to reopen 53 stores after physical-distancing trial
Customers allowed in store for first time since UK coronavirus lockdown started on 23 March
by Mark SweneyHalfords is to fully reopen 53 stores after a successful trial of physical-distancing measures on its shop floors.
The bike and car parts retailer said the reopenings follow successful tests at its Peterborough and Bristol Cribbs Causeway stores. It will be the first time Halfords customers will be allowed in store since the UK lockdown started on 23 March.
Among the sites reopening are Gloucester, Huddersfield, Inverness and North Shields. A number of the stores opened over the bank holiday weekend and all 53 will be open by Friday.
The distancing measures being implemented include queueing marshals outside stores, “sneeze screens” for shoppers and staff, and customers being asked not to handle or try on products. The decision comes a day after the government said most non-essential retailers could reopen from 15 June.
“We are pleased to be in a position to start letting our customers back into our stores,” said Graham Stapleton, the chief executive of Halfords. “However, we are going to be reopening them to our customers gradually and cautiously in order to be absolutely certain that our colleagues and customers have a safe environment in which to work and shop.”
In March, bike shops were designated an essential service under the government’s coronavirus control measures. Halfords has been operating 335 of its 446 retail shops under a “dark store” model during the lockdown, meaning customers have been unable to browse and instead have been placing orders with Halfords staff outside the front of the store.
“There has been a big surge in demand for our bike products and services as people have taken to cycling during the lockdown, both for commuting and for fun,” Stapleton said. “We are anticipating a similar level of demand for our motoring products and services in the competing days, as people begin to use vehicles again that in some cases will have been off the road for many weeks.”
In addition to its retail stores, Halfords has 346 of its 373 garages, and 77 vans, operating under a contactless model.
Stores reopening
Aintree
Ashford
Aylesbury
Basingstoke
Bedford
Braintree
Cambridge
Chatham
Chelmsford
Chester
Colchester
Cribbs Causeway
Doncaster
Dundee
Eastbourne
Edinburgh – Straiton
Exeter
Fareham
Frome
Gloucester
Hamilton
Harlow
Hemel Hempstead
Hereford
High Wycombe
Huddersfield
Inverness
Ipswich Euro
Leamington Spa
Leicester, St Margarets
Lincoln, Tritton
Liverpool, Edge Lane
Maidstone
Milton Keynes
New Malden
Newport
North Shields
Norwich
Peterborough
Plymouth
Poole
Preston
Sheffield, Queens
Stevenage
Stirling
Stockport
Swindon
Taunton
Telford
Thanet
Wakefield
Yeovil
York