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Original poster

Tesco covid shoe policy

92 replies

DoesThisMakeSence · 08/08/2020 21:35

Took my dd to tesco tonight a she has had a growth spurt and outgrew all her shoes for school.
Sanatized our hand and the trolly and put our masks on and we went into the store.

Got quick top up of bread and milk and straight to the shoes.
The whole clothes section was empty apart from two staff filling another row with clothes.

I'm about to try a pair of shoes on dd and the man comes over and said this is not allowed. I stated i had no idea what size of shoe she is.
He said i was welcome to buy both pairs of shoes and return whichever one didnt fit.
That would have cost me an extra £20 that i dont have.

I honestly dont see the sence.
Instead of

  1. Visitig tesco once and quickly trying on 2 pair of shoes picking the pair that fit, paying and leave.

They wanted me to
-Visit tescos, pick up 2 pairs of shoes. Go home dd try on the shoes. The pair of shoes due to be returned have still been touched but they have also sat around our house for a few days. We then have to take a second trip back to tescos together to return them at customer service.

I could only afford one pair, so i am £19 down for a pair of shoes that might fit.

Is it me or is it a little bizarre?

OP posts:
Hairthrowaway · 08/08/2020 23:10

It’s not bizarre, no.

The only shops that allow you to try shoes on are specialist - eg actual shoe stores or luxury retail (Harvey nics/selfridges). No other shop allows you to try shoes on currently so why would Tesco (of all places!) be an exception?

The reason why the above stores allow this is they have extra staff on hand to give you 1-1 assistance - they will sanitise/quarantine all the items used by customers and will ensure you’re wearing their disposable socks rather than placing your own dirty sock/bare foot in. A supermarket like Tesco (especially as it’s a more “budget” retailer) wouldn’t have the staff for this.

ifoundthebread · 08/08/2020 23:12

I visited TKMaxx today and was delighted to see they have a basket full of disposable socks (just socks made of tights material) which you put over your sock, tried on the shoes and then disposed of the sock in the bin provided. A lot less hassle than what they are wanting you to do with buying 2 pairs

TheMurk · 08/08/2020 23:12

Honestly.

Did anyone catch corona from the mail or about Amazon parcel or a 4 pack of chicken thighs from Asda in the end? I’ve been meaning to ask...

This mad virus that clings on to clothes but seemingly not the tabletops and touchscreens of your local McDonalds.

Or the self serve checkouts at Sainsburys...

Or the door handles of pharmacies...

Ya know but let’s quarantine kids shoes for 72 hours.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

General shopping General style & beauty
TrickyKid · 08/08/2020 23:16

It's pointless. How do they think someone will get covid from touching a pair of shoes someone's tried on. The shoes have been touched regardless of if someone tries them on or not.

witchofthenorth · 08/08/2020 23:17

@ItchyScratch

Not Tesco’s fault at all.

This is the rules now- dont you realise?

They are doing this everywhere now- or at least, they are supposed to.

Get a grip

None of this in Asda today either. Which is just as well as had they said that I may have lost my shit
lljkk · 08/08/2020 23:18

Buy several pairs OP. Walk outside, try them on, get the pair you like, take the others straight back for refund?

I feel for you.

I had 80 minute journey to the shops each way today...to buy 16yo DS hiking shoes. I got DS some sandals 2months ago that were size 11 and still fit well. We booked the hol 2 nights ago & are leaving tomorrow. So no time to go back and forth. We were able to try on boots instore.

Size 11 hiking boots: too small
Size 11.5 : ok, but no room if socks were bigger (DS only had thin socks on, only sox he would wear, of sox I brought, he's fussy)
Size 12... seemed good, but so huge!! I made DS wear them in store for a while, walk around, jump up & down.

I don't know how we would have managed if we had to buy, leave, try on, return, buy leave, try on, return, buy leave try on... I guess add at least 90 minutes for the entire errand. Need to allow for that extra amount of time before stores close, I suppose.

goingtotown · 08/08/2020 23:21

I bought sandals in M&S yesterday, normal procedure tried a few pairs on before deciding ones to buy, took them to the till & paid for them.

TheMurk · 08/08/2020 23:23

Some shops are handling this well (mostly the small independents) and I will keep giving them my money.

But the bigger shops and chains are being arsey and ridiculous. I just won’t be back.

In an Oliver Bonas today, made to queue outside and then forced to rub chemicals into mine and my children’s hands before being deigned entry. Inside there were six menmbers of staff in a tiny shop with very little room to manoeuvre. Every part of the shop I went to I got told by one of them what to do or where to stand or what direction to go in, like a naughty child.

I bought something and there was a whole rigmarole about placing goods on a tray and standing back then everything being wiped and then being chastised for not standing exactly on the pink dot please...

Seriously, fuck off.

FunTimes2020 · 08/08/2020 23:24

@ItchyScratch

Not Tesco’s fault at all.

This is the rules now- dont you realise?

They are doing this everywhere now- or at least, they are supposed to.

Get a grip

Miaow! Is the heat getting to you? How about a saucer of milk to cool you down? Hmm
herethereandeverywhere · 08/08/2020 23:34

Why is the UK so shit at this? I'm living in Germany and we've been attending shops, trying on clothes and shoes, since May.
I'm back in the UK soon and dreading this bullshit. I haven't got the time to be buying multiples of everything and returning them. But the kids needs shoes and trainers for uniform, I can't get them here.

Ditto dentists and the weirdness there. I can just get an appointment and have my teeth fixed or cleaned, no fuss in Germany.

The German policies don't appear to be having an adverse effect on their infection rate - so what's up with the UK?

Rupertpenrysmistress · 08/08/2020 23:35

Got both the DC shoes in Clarks tried several pairs on, no problems. New look you can try on and put what you don't want in a box to be quarantined.

IAintentDead · 08/08/2020 23:40

@DoesThisMakeSence

Took my dd to tesco tonight a she has had a growth spurt and outgrew all her shoes for school. Sanatized our hand and the trolly and put our masks on and we went into the store.

Got quick top up of bread and milk and straight to the shoes.
The whole clothes section was empty apart from two staff filling another row with clothes.

I'm about to try a pair of shoes on dd and the man comes over and said this is not allowed. I stated i had no idea what size of shoe she is.
He said i was welcome to buy both pairs of shoes and return whichever one didnt fit.
That would have cost me an extra £20 that i dont have.

I honestly dont see the sence.
Instead of

  1. Visitig tesco once and quickly trying on 2 pair of shoes picking the pair that fit, paying and leave.

They wanted me to
-Visit tescos, pick up 2 pairs of shoes. Go home dd try on the shoes. The pair of shoes due to be returned have still been touched but they have also sat around our house for a few days. We then have to take a second trip back to tescos together to return them at customer service.

I could only afford one pair, so i am £19 down for a pair of shoes that might fit.

Is it me or is it a little bizarre?

It is totally bizarre and, to me, even more bizarre is that people are sticking up for them.

Please don't let anyone convince you that it is you that is unreasonable. I would get banned if I said what I wanted to about the ridiculousness of the way some shop managers or head offices are interpreting the rules.

As a pp said, in order to appease the 'jobsworth' staff, buy one, try on in the car park, and return from there if necessary.

Measuring only goes so far. I am sure I am not the only one who has shoes in sizes one below and one above my measured size. (But at least it isn't as bad as clothes which can be up to 4 sizes either way)

BananaPop2020 · 08/08/2020 23:46

@TheMurk I feel the same as you. Some stores are acting like they are doing us a favour by allowing us the privilege of shopping there. I had this same experience in a garden centre recently where the cashier refused to hand me the receipt, but instead insisted on placing it In a container that I then had to retrieve it from. So so over the top.

TildaTurnip · 08/08/2020 23:51

@Hairthrowaway

It’s not bizarre, no.

The only shops that allow you to try shoes on are specialist - eg actual shoe stores or luxury retail (Harvey nics/selfridges). No other shop allows you to try shoes on currently so why would Tesco (of all places!) be an exception?

The reason why the above stores allow this is they have extra staff on hand to give you 1-1 assistance - they will sanitise/quarantine all the items used by customers and will ensure you’re wearing their disposable socks rather than placing your own dirty sock/bare foot in. A supermarket like Tesco (especially as it’s a more “budget” retailer) wouldn’t have the staff for this.

This simply isn’t true. As many have pointed out, other supermarkets don’t do this. At our local Sainsbury’s, the shoes are just hanging where they always have been. No staff around to see if you’re trying them on or not and no signs to say not to either.

We went to an independent shoe shop recently for children’s shoes (they sell fairly high end shoes) and they measured and fitted using a Perspex screen between us that they reached under. They were happy for multiple shoes to be tried on and didn’t give us disposable socks either.

Oliversmumsarmy · 08/08/2020 23:59

Surely if you are going to Tesco’s or any shoe shop places that are on racks them people have touched them so as soon as someone has found the shoe size they want to look at wouldn’t that mean then the whole rack would have to be cleared and put onto quarantine.

Can you get Covid through peoples socks now?

FaintlyMacabre · 09/08/2020 00:09

I took the DC to M&S , Tesco, decathlon and H&M yesterday and they were able to try on shoes straight off the racks in all of them. Obviously used hand gel at the door each time. And definitely no signs saying not to try on shoes- my children are sticklers for the rules (in public at least) and would have refused to try anything on if it wasn’t allowed!

Prettybluepigeons · 09/08/2020 00:18

Can someone explain to me how you can catch covid from a pair of shoes?

Legoandloldolls · 09/08/2020 00:23

I bought a foot gauge from start rite as our local shoe shop said we could only get measured if we "was serious customers" because they quarantine every shoe that gets tried on.

I'm not confident there would be anything in stock for a start.

Different shops, different rules. My dd tried on school shoes in sainsbury's with no issues. I would rather just measure at home and get a cheapy supermarket pair or buy online.

I wish it was all the same rule. I don't like the shop to shop inconsistent rules

Topseyt · 09/08/2020 00:42

I think it is a totally bizarre and ridiculous system. What do they do with other stuff in the store that people have touched? Quarantine all of their stock? There will be precious little untouched.

Hairthrowaway · 09/08/2020 01:09

@TildaTurnip I see - I don’t buy clothes at Sainsbury’s (or any supermarket), but none of the shops I do provide custom to allow you to try shoes on (TOPSHOP/Zara etc). Independent shops aren’t relevant as they set their own rules. My premise still stands though. I wouldn’t expect trying on shoes to become commonplace until clothing changing rooms reopen.

These rules are in place to minimise the chances of transmission as as less people are handling items. It’s to merely reduce the spread rather than provide immunity against COVID. Also means you’ll be spending less time in store, sat in an enclosed space etc which aids social distancing measures.

TulipsandDa1s1es · 09/08/2020 01:20

buy them cash (no need to wait for a card refund), try them on outside the shop/in the car and bring them back in if they dont fit her and swap them there and then, instant cash refund so youre not out of pocket if you cant afford it.

CeeceeBloomingdale · 09/08/2020 01:42

It's not a blanket rule. Went to a Clarks outlet today, kids were measured and tried on half a dozen pairs as usual. They were brought out by the fitter, I wasn't trying them on them myself.

babydisney · 09/08/2020 01:46

It's bullshit, it wouldnt live on the material long enough, just laziness from the employee he could have quite easily let you try them on and taken the other pair away for sanitation if necessary.

SophieGiroux · 09/08/2020 02:33

I noticed in New Look that if you try on sunglasses they should go in a box to be sanitised afterwards. There was a lady there trying loads on though and putting them back on the racks! I would've thought this would be worse as they go on your face

480Widdio · 09/08/2020 02:37

I have tried shoes on in M and S and Tesco this week,no problem.