Southampton store re-opens after trading through Facebook for nearly a month

When the Nisa Local Maybush store in Southampton re-opened to shoppers on Monday (27 April), it has mastered a new service for the future.

The store closed its doors at the start of the month, but it never ceased to serve the community during the crisis. The independent retailer used the store’s Facebook page to reach out to the shoppers and teamed up with a local taxi company to offer home delivery services.

Tanj Jagpal, whose parents run the store on a day to day basis, said they made the decision to close amid concerns about how to keep store staff and shoppers safe, deciding a full closure was the best way of protecting everyone.

“We know it was quite a bold move, and up until that point we’d been extremely busy, like Christmas every day. But we felt there was too much risk for everyone and so we closed down and came up with alternative ways of serving our shoppers,” Jagpal said.

The closure offered Jagpal an opportunity to prefect a new system which offered shoppers full access to product lists via the store’s Facebook page, enabling customers to place orders before 10pm for next day delivery.

They also offered a click and collect service using the same system, with shoppers able to attend the store and pick up their shopping.

A full list of available products was uploaded onto the site each day so shoppers knew what they could order, and customers were invited to place their orders, including at least £10 worth of essential items, on the store’s Facebook page.

“We felt this was the most responsible way to operate so customers didn’t have to put themselves or others at risk by waiting in queues or being in close contact with others. In addition, customers knew exactly what we had available as the product list was updated daily,” Jagpal said.

As the store re-opens Jagpal hopes to continue offer the new services to shoppers.

“Our actions were well received by customers – they saw it as us taking responsible steps. We’ll be continuing our click and collect service and looking ahead, we will try to streamline it and make it an extra service to our customers, even when this is all over.”

The store has adopted strict social distancing measures to ensure staff and shoppers stay safe.

As well as reduced opening hours there will be a maximum of three customers allowed in the store at a time, social distancing marks will be in place as well as plastic screens to protect cashiers and customers, contactless payment is also being encouraged and a fair limit is being placed on certain products.