CHECK THIS OUT! OUR NEW WAY OF SHOPPING

CORONAVIRUS: WHAT’S IN STORE

- Mark Reynolds

SHOPPERS will face a very different experience when retailers begin to throw open their doors next month, experts have said.

As the high street nervously prepares for another step towards normality, thousands of non-essential shops, department stores and shopping centres were last night fine-tuning ways to reopen safely.

As a result, from June 15, shoppers are likely to be confronted with one-way walking systems, tills behind screens, changing rooms closed and no in-store seating.

Some shops, following an innovation from Aldi, may even install traffic lights at entrances to control shopper numbers. Customers enter when the lights turn green and the automatic doors open.

The lights will be rolled out in Aldi stores this week after a trial in 10 branches. The supermarket chain is encouraging emergency service workers to go to the front of the queue, and asking other customers to respect this priority.

After the timetable for the next stage of the lifting of lockdown restrictions was set out, retailers were yesterday finalising the ways of restarting – while keeping both customers and staff safe.

While outlets are gearing up for what has been dubbed the “sale of the century” – with £15billion worth of stock – it remains to be seen if customers will feel safe enough to return to shopping centres or prefer to stay local.