Shops hit hard after lockdown

With Christmas over and a new lockdown just begun, people are confined to their homes unless they are a key worker. Retailers should be the worst effected economically, but is this the case?

Rishi Sunak, Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced a £280 billion financial support package to offer additional support for businesses affected by the coronavirus epidemic, alongside £4.6 billion in new lockdown grants.

Retailers are a huge sector of income for the UK economy where Covid-19 has unfathomably impacted their revenue. In 2020, the retail industry shrunk economically by 20% and 2.2% for the UK's whole economy.

Selly Oak shopping park, on the outskirts of Birmingham city centre, is a pivotal hub for surrounding communities, a place to meet for a coffee in Costa or treating yourself to clothes from the likes of Marks and Spencer, Next and JD Sports. But with all the non-essential shops closing, those essential shops which remain open have seen a dramatic reduction in footfall.

Wilko is a store selling a variety of items with seasonal items drawing more attention depending on the time of year and decided to reduce their opening hours to save on wages and ensure that jobs remain intact.

Sharon Henley, Wilko Selly Oak assistant manager, said "the store's footfall (amount of customers who enter the store each day) is at about a fall of 15%" in comparison to last year before Christmas, implying that there sales would also do the same. However what they had found was "an increase in items per basket." Lockdown has meant that people are shopping less often but purchasing more items in one go. "Although the store can get stressful, the team are so close and the morale of the team is great, despite the increase of mental health concerns raised. Wilko have a confidential helpline posted in the canteen and other staff areas and as the management team, we are always thinking about the staffs safety, both mentally and physically, always wanting to help."

Superdrug is another essential store on the retail park, where Sharnah, Superdrug's assistant manager, said they "have had a reduction of around 20-25% in footfall" but are too seeing an increase in sales. She believes that "people use the retail park as an escape from being stuck at home, and so do the staff, which makes the morale of the team high as we are all so close."

During the first lockdown in march, Superdrug had closed their fragrance section and had signs to encourage people to only shop for the essential items that they sell. Superdrug had realised that its the non-essential items in the stores which draw customers. Sharnah joked that "people come tohe store to buy make up just for a selfie to feel good about themselves and its important that we provide that."

Keaton, store assistant, said that he feels morale is dropping and customers are "very split in their ways, those that are happy and want to comply and others who don't and when challenged, think that we are the problem, but fail to understand that we as essential workers are at high risk (of Covid-19). Sometimes I don't blame them though, they are probably fed up of being inside all day."