The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) and Welsh Retail Consortium have written to Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford expressing concern over the move to restrict the sale of non-essential products in stores as a two-week “firebreak” lockdown begins in the region at 6 pm today (23 October).
Drakeford has told a Senedd committee that the stores will be asked to only sell products classified as “essential goods” to ensure a “level playing field” as many retailers will be forced to close but the products will still be available from food stores which are allowed to open.
The lockdown will be in force till 9 November and all non-essential retail, leisure, hospitality and tourist businesses will have to close.
Supermarket chains Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons, which are all big sellers of clothing, immediately scrambled to adapt their stores to focus on food.
The trade groups in their joint letter sent to Drakeford yesterday noted that the government has not yet published any detailed guidance on what product lines will be allowed to sell.
“To date, all discussions between your officials and industry about the firebreak has been focused on the closure of types of business premises, not products. This last-minute change in policy approach will place huge additional operational pressure on the retail sector, our store colleagues and ultimately customers,” the letter read.
“This policy will also put our colleagues in the difficult position of having to refuse the sale of certain products in store that could be a flashpoint for violence and abuse, which has spiked during this pandemic,” it added.
The trade groups warned that reviewing thousands of products lines at incredibly short notice is a near impossible task. They urged the government to revise the policy approach and work with the industry “to keep essential businesses open and support non-essential businesses to use other channels to serve customers during the firebreak.”
Commenting, James Lowman, chief executive of the ACS, added that the policy will be counter-productive in all likelihood.
“The confusion and confrontations between customers and shopworkers that this rule will trigger will ultimately lead to more contacts and time spent in proximity to other people, which is the exact opposite of what Ministers are aiming to achieve,” he said.
“Retailers must not be forced to stop making products available to customers just because ministers don’t think they’re essential. These regulations are badly thought out, providing little to no notice to retailers, and must be scrapped to avoid chaos in shops across Wales.”
Sara Jones, head of the Welsh Retail Consortium, said: “Compelling retailers to stop selling certain items, without them being told clearly what is and what isn’t permitted to be sold, is ill-conceived and short-sighted.”
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