Non-essential shops in Islington are welcoming customers back through their doors today (June 15) .
As part of the government’s three-stage easing of lockdown restrictions, shops around the UK have been allowed to reopen for the first time since late March, provided they follow Covid-19 guidelines.
Adventures in Furniture on Upper Street implemented extra safety measures for reopening, such as bookable individual shop browsing appointments and tours via Zoom.
Owner Kim Corbett told the Gazette: “It’s really exciting to be opening, it has been crazy - we’re normally only closed for about five days a year and we were closed for months.
“We have hand sanitiser and can give people masks - we are ready.”
Kim said the lockdown has been “hard”, with a considerable pressure on revenues, but she is “cautiously optimistic” about the future.
READ MORE: Coronavirus: When are non-essential shops in Islington reopening?Over on Baron Street, the co-owners of N1 Games, husband and wife team Sam and Sue Semaan, said the first day was going well.
Sue told this newspaper the period of closure was worrying because the price of video games can depreciate quickly and the business does not have an online branch.
She explained: “It’s difficult to compete against the big video game companies, so we didn’t go online and chose to focus on having that personal service for our customers - but maybe in the future we should look into it.
“We came in three or four days ago to take everything off the shelves and have a very good spring clean.”
N1 Games is not allowing any more than two or three people into the shop at once and have installed screens to protect staff.
The open-air Angel Central shopping centre is also following a new set of stringent safety measures under its strapline Safety Central.
These include a one-way system starting on Upper Street and exiting onto Liverpool Road and signage displaying each shop’s maximum capacity.
Martin Macwhinnie, Angel Central centre manager, said: “For many people, Angel Central is at the centre of their community, so we would like our neighbours to know that their health and safety is being cared for.”
Pret A Manger and Wagamama are the first at Angel Central to reopen for delivery and takeout options.
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