Relief from shopkeepers as reopening is allowed
TOWN retailers breathed a collective sigh of relief yesterday, as they were allowed to reopen their doors after six weeks of strict lockdown.
The centre of St Peter Port suddenly came alive as the island took the big step into stage two of the exit strategy.
The move came ahead of today’s one-year anniversary of the first case of Covid-19 being announced in Guernsey.
Town was bustling with shoppers and the vast majority of shops had reopened.
There were socially distanced queues outside some shops, particularly the telecoms and computer stores, where some customers were waiting with broken phones.
Some UK chain stores were asking everyone who entered to print their names and contact details on a register.
The retail casualties of the lockdown remained visible, but many of the local, independent retailers who opened yesterday were feeling positive.
Kerry Barnfather, from X&Y in the Commercial Arcade, said there was some apprehension from customers.
‘I’m relieved with an element of excitement, we’re keeping up with the hygiene standards that have been asked of us, and it’s just so nice to see the door open and to see people in Town, so see Town come back to life.
‘I’ve been around here during the last weeks of lockdown to check on the shop occasionally and it’s really sad to see Town completely deserted of any people.
‘Obviously I’ll go with the guidance of those in charge, but I’m hoping the good case figures continue, and stage two won’t last that long and we’ll get back to the position we were in before and post-Christmas, when we were so spoilt with life in Guernsey.’
All the shops had sanitiser at their entrances and there were plenty of posters reminding shoppers to maintain a two metre distance.
Matt Grange, from The Outlet in the Market buildings, was also relieved to be back.
‘People seem to still be a little bit tentative, but I think as the week goes on the confidence will grow and people will be out and about more, and hopefully we can safely move to stage three,’ he said.
‘It doesn’t look like people will be leaving the island that much this summer, so we should try to make the most of what we can here, so hopefully people will support the local businesses that we have here.’
Fiona Copeland, the owner of Evie & Me, was busy organising, cleaning, and preparing for new stock to come in so that she could open today.
‘I’m very excited to be reopening, I’m really glad that we’ve got through this quickly, hopefully it won’t happen again so we can get back to normal life,’ she said.
Shoppers Georgia Harper and Steven Patten were laden down with bags after buying back to work clothes and shoes.
‘It’s really nice to be here and see the start of normalcy again, it’s not too busy, it’s not Christmas level.
‘People are clued into the rules, everyone was policing themselves well.’
