Safety first as Weston Favell Shopping Centre gets ready for Monday's reopenings

The manager of Weston Favell Shopping Centre says he is really looking forward to welcoming back traders that were forced to close their doors.

The centre has remained open throughout the last three months for the essential retail trading.

But on Monday, in line with the Government’s step two of the roadmap to recovering, non-essential shops,beauty and hair salons as well as Gym will be reopening to the public.

Speaking to the Chronicle & Echo, centre manager Kevin Legg said there was plenty of activity going on in the background ahead of the reopening.

The key priority, he said, was to reinforce all the Covid safety measures that have been in place.

“We have stayed fully operational over the past three months and the footfall has been gently increasing.

“We have stayed fully compliant and we feel that our efforts in the centre have reassured our customers,” he said.

“We are really looking forward to welcoming back those that were forced for close their doors in January and we will be encouraging them to continue with the necessary precautions to safeguard their staff and customers when they re-open.” Kevin added.

The centre has been putting out messages on its social media platforms during the last week, ahead of the reopening.

A spokesperson said: “As a shopping centre we do ask that you continue to follow the guidance in place. Using our one-way system to make space for others, washing your hands regularly and wearing your face mask. This is very important to ensure that those shops can reopen safely next week.

“We will not be making any changes to the shopping mall and our current social distancingmeasures that have been in place for some time will continue. Our focus continues to be creating a clean, safe shopping environment and urge customers to help us by sticking to these guidelines as we move forward through The Government roadmap,” the spokesperson added.

“CC Hair Salon, Elliotts Hairdressing and Better Brows are already really busy taking appointments.

“Some of our other smaller independent businesses have adapted well to the current lockdown rules by continuing to trade with click and collect facilities or delivery services available including Wendy’s Sweet Shop, Fitness Inc, Flowers Just For You, Superior Services and Going Spare,” she added.

The centre says it is normally busiest between 11am and 3pm and encouraged visiting, if you can, outside of those times.