Frasers boss blames Cummings effect for store reopening delay

Wootton, right-hand man to Frasers and Sports Direct tycoon Mike Ashley, told ITV News that he was “extremely irritated” that ‘non-essential’ retailers must wait until June 15 before reopening, rather than June 1 as previously expected.

Wootton told the broadcaster: “We actually think that the whole Dominic Cummings fiasco over the weekend has made [the government] hesitant to act decisively, so they’ve clearly pushed [reopening] back to June 15.“

He said that Frasers was “ready to go” on reopening and has made changes in-store such as floor-stickering to ensure social distancing and screens at tills.

But he believed the delayed reopening would prove fatal for some retailers – it would “definitely put some businesses out of business”, he maintained.

Wootton said: “There will be retailers that are on the edge of going out of existence, that an extra couple of weeks will put some under for sure because they are that close to the edge.

“It’s still going to cost us millions of pounds in lost sales and unnecessary costs for this lack of guidance.”

Other retailers were similarly frustrated by the later than anticipated reopening date. Toy specialist The Entertainer founder Gary Grant, for instance, told Retail Week that he had been preparing for a June 1 launch.

”I’m a little disappointed [with the decision],” he said.

“We were all geered up to reopen some of the smaller stores next week. We thought that the government would begin reopening stores in waves - where we have shops in traditional high streets or open malls with all the relevant safety measures would open first, and then some of those in enclosed spaces or even those in big enclosed spaces like Westfield London would open in a second or third wave.

”The fact that all retail has been deferred effectively for three weeks is disappointing as we need to get the business back on track.”

Beaverbrooks chief executive Anna Blackburn said that she was disappointed by the new date, but not surprised, as she initially believed that only shops in retail parks and high streets would open on June 1. Blackburn was therefore pleased the jewellery retailer could open all stores in one go, regardless of location, especially as the majority of Beaverbrooks’ most profitable stores are in indoor shopping centres. 

Retailers are now readying for June 15. Department store group John Lewis will reopen in phases. Next will take a similar approach, starting with out-of-town branches where social distancing and other health and safety measures are easier to implement than in smaller, town centre stores.