The Entertainer is set to reopen stores in keeping with government guidelines on June 15 and has introduced new fast-track measures to help serve customers as fast as possible.

The toys retailer will reopen all 173 of its stores on June 15 with new social distancing measures in place including a ’ready in 10’ concept.

This service will allow shoppers in the queue for the store to make an order from their phone, which will be collected in-store within 10 minutes. Similarly, customers who know what they want will be able to tell a colleague at the door and be fast-tracked to the payment area.

After closing all stores to the public amid the coronavirus pandemic on March 23, The Entertainer became an online-only operator but struggled to keep up with orders.

The chain reportedly saw Black Friday levels of demand for its products but could not match the clamour with its warehouses running at 40% capacity due to social distancing regulations.

Top-selling items have included outdoor toys, crafting projects, educational products and jigsaws, as parents and children tackled boredom and school closures in lockdown. 

Chief executive and founder Gary Grant said he was frustrated by the delay from the expected June 1 opening date as he “needed to get the business back on track”. He believes the fast-track service will help.

“Our objective is to satisfy all of our customers to achieve all they want in the fastest possible time that we can serve them,” Grant said.

“Having the fast-track will actually allow us to serve more people an hour than we would ordinarily be restricted to with social distancing measures and saves customers from having to wander around the store.”