John Lewis’ head of real estate, planning, policy and commercial Katherine Russell has warned that there will be more casualties to come in the retail sector, despite the phased reopening of the high street next month.
“We’re only on the cusp,” she said, speaking on a panel for the latest webinar from the Westminster Property Association and New West End Company.
“I think as we come out of this period and look towards 15 June in terms of reopening it’s going to be a difficult time to trade for everyone,” said Russell. “I don’t think we should underestimate that at all.”
However, she does believe there are opportunities that will come out of the current crisis.
“Out of it will come a huge amount of creativity and we have collectively got to work with our councils and our boroughs as to how can we reimagine our towns and cities and what will it look like going forward,” she said. “In the long term, it’s thinking about the uses that are going to attract people, but in the immediate term it’s thinking about how we can create an environment that is going to make people feel confident safe and able to come back.”
John Lewis has experienced both sides of the impact of Covid-19 on the retail sector, having to adapt its supermarkets to continue trading throughout and closing its department stores. As it works towards reopening its department stores next month, Russell said the retailer would look to the lessons learnt from its supermarket chain Waitrose in terms of understanding how you can socially distance and trade effectively.
John Lewis department stores, which will have a phased reopening starting with its Kingston and Poole stores on 15 June, will have restricted access and exits points to enable a single flow of customers coming in and navigating through its shops. Regular deep cleans throughout the day will also take place, while some customer services, such as close-contact beauty, will not be offered and changing rooms will remain closed.
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