Shops prepare for Thursday rush
Monday, 11 May 2020
Retailers preparing to open their doors on Thursday are expecting a rush of shoppers.
'There have been a lot of things people have not been able to get in the last eight weeks, so there will definitely be demand for the public to get to the shops, to pick up some of those items,' said Greg Harford, chief executive of Retail NZ.
But he also expected many shoppers to remain nervous, and warned them to expect a different shopping experience than existed before lockdown.
'There will be social distancing arrangements in place, and management of the numbers of people going into stores,' he said.
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* Shopping at level 2 will include physical distancing and limited numbers
* Coronavirus: Level 3 won't be the magic tonic for retailers struggling under Covid-19 restrictions
**
The arrangements would vary from shop to shop, with each shop-owner having to decide on their own safety arrangements.
They would be similar in nature to those used by supermarkets and pharmacies during the lockdown.
Harford said shops were desperate to open their doors again, and welcomed the announcement from Prime Minister Jacinda Arden that shops and malls could open on Thursday as part of the staggered exit from alert level 3 to alert level 2.
'It's outstanding news for retailers that their shops will be allowed to open,' he said.
He expected all but a handful of shops to open for business on Thursday.
Many had been surviving only through support from their banks, and from the wage subsidy scheme, he said.
For some, the reopening would come too late to save them, he said.
'It's pretty tight out there,' he said.
'We haven't heard of any businesses that have failed yet.'
But he expected there would be some shop owners who would not survive.
During, level 3 many retailers could only make sales virtually, or through contactless click and collect services.
That included some small stores like Auckland's Time Out Bookstore, which served customers books on a pizza paddle through a barricaded door.
But even doing that posed some huge challenges, and resulted in long delivery times, or long waits for customers to be able to collect the items they had paid for online.
'Due to unprecedented demand through our website and the courier network, your delivery will take longer than normal to reach you,' Farmers has been telling online shoppers.
At Briscoes deliveries were taking 10-14 days under lockdown.
The Warehouse's click and collect orders were taking anywhere between seven and 14 days after customers made their online purchases to be ready to collect.
Brett O’Riley, chief executive of the EMA said for the country as a whole, the focus had shifted to restoring people’s livelihoods.
'The Government trusted businesses at Alert Levels 4 and 3, and it is good to see that trust further extended at Level 2 to allow the majority of businesses to return and begin the task of restoring their own operations and the national economy,' he said.
He was confident businesses would stick to guidelines to ensure the best public health outcomes, and that businesses had plans in place to manage their Level 2 responsibilities to staff and customers.
But more taxpayer support would be needed for some to survive.
'Our member businesses will be looking forward to hearing details of that further assistance as even at Level 2 some cannot see a way back to profitability,' he said.
'We are also very keen to hear about the Rebuilding Together budget on Thursday, which we are hoping will also be a comprehensive blueprint for the future, including doing things differently.'