Shops ready for customers to return following lockdown
Shops across a city have been getting ready to reopen following four weeks of lockdown.
Retail businesses in Wolverhampton are among those able to reopen following four weeks of closure due to government lockdown restrictions after being classed as non-essential businesses.
This has led to owners of shops across the city getting their premises ready to welcome back customers while also following the Tier 3 restrictions which will be in place.
Janet Crook has been at her shop Crafty Happenings on Windsor Avenue to get everything ready and spoke about what it mean to be able to reopen, albeit in a Tier 3 location.
She said: “Obviously, we are jubilant that we can open up as a shop and welcome our customers, who have been so supportive, back into the physical shop.
“However, being in Tier 3 has meant we have had to cancel all of our workshops that we had planned, which is a massive disappointment.
“Hopefully, we can reorganise some for January and February, but it’s part of the rollercoaster we’ve been on as a shop since the start of the pandemic.”
Mrs Crook said it had been a challenge to continually have to reassess how she runs her business, but said she was looking at the positives of reopening.
Other shop owners in the city have also spoken about being able to reopen and the effect lockdown has had on their businesses.
Clare Howell, owner of Vinyl and Vintage on Cleveland Street, said it was good to be able to reopen in the run up to Christmas, but also said the constant opening and closing was taking its toll.
She said: “We need people to help the smaller businesses as once they’re gone, they’re gone, so we hope people will be able to come and spend money here.”