To ask your experiences of shopping in town now

[SodOffCovid]

Am planning on going into town tomorrow to return somethinf and hopefully get some bits for my son (he isn't coming). What's it really like now? Are the queues really as horrendous as made out for primark, h&m, tiger tiger...

I've been shopping 5 times since the shops reopened and really enjoyed it. The on!y queue I've seen is for Primark and that's very short or non existent early in the morning. I've found all the staff super friendly and helpful. I've enjoyed normality and getting a hot drink out.
Just to add I used to go to the shops about once every three weeks but actually prefer it now.

I found it a bit strange. The staff watch you like a hawk as if you are going to steal something which is a bit intimidating (I have never stolen anything in my life!). The jobsworthness of it is irritating, and whilst I get why it's in place, it's a bit offputting and I think they will suffer for it to be honest because shopping is no longer enjoyable.

Went to Manchester last week (about 9.30/10.00) shopped in M & S, Boots, Debenhams, Next. Didn't look that crowded, pleasantly surprised.

It's fine. My teenage daughter was keen to go to Primark so I reluctantly agreed and it was about a ten minute queue to get in but the queueing area was all clearly marked and everyone kept their distance etc. There was no queue for any of the other shops nearby, people were able to come and go as they pleased. There was hand sanitizer at the door of each shop and the bigger ones had someone there making sure that people used it.

Didn’t like it one bit. I was shopping mainly online, now completely online.

Was considering booking a table to support restaurants when they reopen but I think it will be so unfun I won’t bother.

I find the masks everywhere are creepy and oppressive. I just don’t feel like spending when I am out.

Have been to john Lewis last weekend. Very poorly stocked, felt weird and found the whole atmosphere very off putting. Will stick to online until distancing measures and general paranoia dissipate.

@PersonaNonGarter

Didn’t like it one bit. I was shopping mainly online, now completely online.

Was considering booking a table to support restaurants when they reopen but I think it will be so unfun I won’t bother.

I find the masks everywhere are creepy and oppressive. I just don’t feel like spending when I am out.

I’m really confused why people (not just you Persona) insist that having to use hand sanitiser and keep a bit of distance destroys all the fun. I get fun from the people I’m with and from delicious food and drinks.

It's absolutely fine to be honest.
Not crowded at all
Just some screens and hands gel like you'd expect.
No queues - the longest queue I've seen is about 5 people and it goes down so fast
Don't know what people are on about when they say it's heaving and shouldn't be happening

It's a bit odd, one or two staff in shops are clearly thoroughly enjoying their new role... We had to hand sanitise on entry to every shop in our town yesterday which became tiresome.quite quickly. One of them had a rehearsed spiel that some poor sod was repeating over and over again to every customer, even though she said it so loudly everyone in the queue could hear, so by the time you were at the front you'd heard the 40 seconds speech multiple times anyway. And Clarks was bizarre as you had to store all your tried on shoes in a basket to be quarantined.

OK that's interesting. The media have certainly done a number on me to make me worry so I am going anxiously for sure. I hope I have as much as most of you

Like before but with more hand sanitiser.

Very depressing in my local department store. Uncomfortably hot and stuffy wearing a mask. Felt like I was being watched by staff. Daren’t touch anything. I won’t be back in a hurry.

In my smallish local town it's been different each time I've been, some shops have queues, some don't. Are all towns exactly the same, wouldn't it be better to say where you'd going and at what time of day?

I went on Monday at 11 and it was empty!!! So many sales too
Just don't go in afternoon

OK that's helpful. I'm aiming to get there 9.30

The clothes are last season rejects. No new stock as many stores cancelled orders (and would have struggled to fill/ship anyway). Some general stock is stuck in customs.

Slower moving merchandise (homewares etc) not so depressing, but seems to be less of it.

Overall, it's a bit shit.

It’s feckin awful. Went into town yesterday and vowed only to shop online from now on. No consistency in approach- some shops like Zara insisting you use their own (god awful) hand sanitiser. Some (Eg Hobbs) only telling you it’s there if you want to use it. I walked into one shop only to be reminded of the one way system- walked straight back out again.
Horrible, horrible. No wonder retail is fucked.

Crikey. I don't mind using hand sanitiser but I don't fancy being glared at I'm not stupid, and surely every shop expects social distancing so I don't need to be reminded over an over. Hey ho. Got to go! Perhaps it will be the last shop of 2020

I'm already looking for Christmas presents, let's face it, it's going to be shite by December

It's fine, try not to worry about going.

Been to Next to return an item purchased during lockdown. It was fine, not very busy at all. Staff were wearing PPE, and were very helpful. There were hand sanitisers at the counter but not compulsory to use. I used my own before getting into the car. B&Q had a long(ish) queue to the checkout counter but it moved very quickly. Homebase had a long queue outside on Saturday morning so we didn't bother with them. The JD sports near us had a long queue outside as well on Saturday morning. Haven't been to the shops during the week

Only Primark had queues but can't stand the place anyway

Rest of shops fine, nice and quiet. Unfortunately nowhere to get coffee and cake, can't try on clothes and can't have a wee.

Our city is horrible. Very quiet and a lot of men on drugs. Not safe

I've been with DC to the nearest medium sized town to get her some new shoes. There are a lot of small traders and so maybe only a third of places were open. we queued briefly for M&S - the main queue there was for the food hall so we leapfrogged it. DC2 was able to try on shoes on the shop floor with no obvious disapproval from anyone.

I could see queues at Wilko and Next as well, but nowhere else. In fact because it was quiet I let her spend some pocket money at Waterstones and the old fashioned sweetshop, and we got takeaway drinks from Costa. Waterstones were happy for people to browse, and had a trolley for books handled but not bought, presumably to be wiped down or quarantined.

DH went with DC1 to the city centre, and said the queues were minimal.

I reluctantly popped to Westfield this afternoon to return something and was pleasantly surprised by how quiet it was. Even Waitrose didn’t have a queue!