Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon has made face coverings compulsory for all shoppers from July 10, but they are only mandatory on public transport in England and not obligatory in Wales or Northern Ireland. Industry experts offer their view on whether the rest of the UK should follow Scotland’s lead.
Martin Newman, founder, The Customer First Group
The wearing of masks is definitely splitting public opinion. Nonetheless, in the short term, in order to increase consumer confidence to be able to shop safely in all retail stores, I believe the wearing of face masks should be mandatory for both customers and staff.
However, staff should wear see-through masks so consumers with hearing impairments can lipread, but it will also improve levels of service with all other customers.
While masks may not be a fool-proof barrier to the risk of Covid-19 infection, they provide some protection, in particular in an enclosed environment where the risk of infection is higher.
We must do all we can to keep retail open and masks can play a part in minimising the risk of further lockdown.
Steve Leach, sales director, Nisa Retail
Throughout the duration of the pandemic, we’ve been closely monitoring the official advice coming from the government and the World Health Organisation as well as the valuable guidance available from the Association of Convenience Stores.
We’ve seen how rapidly the situation can change and we’ve been keen to ensure we share updates with Nisa partners as soon as they are available.
Our retailers operate their businesses independently and make their own decisions on how they will respond to guidelines and we work closely with them to ensure they have access to all the relevant information so their decisions are well informed.
The mandatory wearing of face masks is something our retailers will have their own views on and we will make it our business to share with them as much information as we can to support them in managing this in their own stores.
Rosie Shepard, reporter, Retail Week
Face masks have now become a common sight everywhere from the local shop to the park, and have even managed to become a fashion accessory made of all sorts of patterns to match your outfit.
While I’d love for them to only be a style choice, much like a scrunchie or scarf, the truth of the matter is that making face masks a legal requirement might be one of the only ways to ensure people follow safety rules.
Advice from the WHO suggests face coverings should be worn in all spaces where social distancing cannot be adhered to. While I commend the efforts of retail employees to keep customers apart, in my experience, all notion of being two metres (or even one metre) apart go out the window as soon as you leave the queue and enter the store. Supermarkets especially have issues with this as queues for the tills snake through the aisles, and many seem to have no issue reaching over others to grab what they want.
It seems absurd to me that the only place face masks are currently mandatory in England is on public transport – shops are similarly enclosed spaces and given the public’s lax attitude indicated by the hordes of pub-goers across the country at the weekend, social distancing has more or less been forgotten.
I appreciate it may be difficult to enjoy a pint down your local with a face mask on, but wearing one in a shop, albeit annoying, won’t impinge on the experience.
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