Several large Canadian retailers are starting to reopen stores as provinces loosen restrictions aimed at controlling the COVID-19 pandemic, but personal protective gear, physical distancing and heightened cleaning measures will make the shopping experience very different.
The retailer opened two of its stores recently — one in
Fewer customers will be allowed in each store at a time, with the figure depending on the store's size, said Hill. A staff member with a counter will keep track of those entering and leaving, and other staff will manage lines, if need be. Those staff are likely to be wearing masks or gloves, or both.
Store associates will no longer take items from customers and carry them to fitting rooms, though shoppers will be allowed to touch clothes while they browse.
"I'm not suggesting we're going to encourage people, but we're not going to stop people from touching and feeling the product," said Hill, adding people have learned a lot about proper behaviour over the past couple weeks and are likely to act accordingly.
Every second fitting room will be closed and a cleaner will sanitize the space in between customers. Any clothes customers try on but don't purchase staff will be run under a steamer to disinfect.
Roots
All fitting rooms will be closed, but Roots will start accepting returns five days after stores reopen. Returned items will be tucked away for 72 hours and steamed before reappearing in stores.
"What we're trying to do is also give our staff some time to adapt to the new situation," said interim CEO
A lot of the company's customers are used to how the company's clothes fit, which should help them navigate sizing without trying items on, she said, though she noted the company will continue to revisit the fitting room decision and open them if it makes sense to do so.
The mattress retailer believes its stores lend themselves well to physical distancing as they are a "very low traffic destination" since it sells a specialty product. Still, it plans to use floor decals and signs to guide customer movement, and set up hand sanitizer stations, among other measures.
When staff recommend a product, the customer will receive a disposable mattress or pillow protector to test the item, it said.
One calculation consumers must make is determining whether the risk to venture into a store is worth it.
"Even if all of that is in place, I could still get this virus and die from it, and is this sweater really worth that happening?" said
In areas where stores have reopened, anecdotal evidence points to lower traffic.
Along the Avenue des Champs-Elysees in
That's partly because consumers remain concerned about their health and the safety of their loved ones, he said, and likely will continue to show restraint until scientists discover a vaccine and most of the population is innoculated.
It doesn't help that nearly every generation feels a financial strain from the outbreak. Retirees likely saw their RRSP balances drop, millennials are living through a second economic crisis during their relatively short careers and generation Z is entering a job market at an unprecedented time, he said.
"Across all consumer segments there's going to be some grave, grave concern about their future economic state."
Stephens believes the coronavirus will have a lasting impact on retail. With COVID-19 set to change many parts of how people live — including education, transportation, office space — it's bound to alter how people shop in the long run.
"It has to if it's just a reflection of how we live," said Stephens, who is currently writing a book on how the coronavirus will change the industry. "Resurrecting retail: the future of business in a post pandemic world" is set to come out in the spring of 2021.
Stores may no longer be an avenue for distributing products, he said, and companies will shift tremendous amounts of capital from physical assets to digital ones.
"There will be far fewer stores, and the bloodletting has already begun."
This report by
Companies in this story: (TSX:ATZ, TSX:ROOT, TSX:ZZZ)
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