Jojo Maman Bébé ‘locked door procedure’

[Redolent]

Sorry if this has been posted before. Jojo Maman Bébé next to me, ever since reopening, has always had its doors locked. You have to knock for a staff member to let you in, and then one of them has to let you out. It’s always appeared deserted every time I walk past, and that’s probably no coincidence (it just looks shut). The staff are also VERY jittery in general about touching items etc in the store. I guess I just find it mildly inhospitable and counterproductive for a business to do this. Feels like a hassle for me and them if I just want a quick browse.

Checked online and this is part of their post-covid reopening policy: “ Introducing a locked door procedure to control customer flow.”

I'd shop elsewhere if they don't want my money

My local one has its doors open, or at least it did last week - is this a new thing?
They did have disposable gloves to wear when I went in for the first time but they seem to have dropped that.

I needed a present for a new baby, I did not feel comfortable browsing at all but the staff were lovely, I told them things I was after, my budget and then came back about 15 mins later and they had selected a whole range of items for me to choose from. Service was actually better than usual.

I have done this with a few shops (mainly independent ones) now - phoned ahead to check what they have, if they will pick a few things out and then I go in, I only need to touch what I buy - fine they don't want people browsing but if they want people to still spend their money they need to up their service levels.

PS it is not me that is worried about interacting/ touching things but I do understand that others and staff are. I respect that even though I am completely over all the stupid Covid "rules".

’I wonder if they've put in stricter measure than elsewhere because many of their customers are pregnant and may feel more vulnerable’

This ^

Some places do this, some places are very jittery. My only concern would be fire but if they have a door release button from the inside, fine.

My local one only closes the door if it’s raining. Otherwise they just block the door with a chair. You go up to the door and a staff member quickly opens it for you and offers you hand sanitiser.

I can’t imagine flouncing out while decreeing “I shall never darken this threshold again until you cease and desist!” 🙄

How weird, because my local one isn’t like this at all. I felt very welcome in there.

If it starts locking its doors I won’t be going back.

Would the locked door thing not be a fire hazard? When we have our premises checked over by health and safety, some of the hoops you have to just through is insane. A locked door with customers inside would surely flag up on their criteria.

The trouble with open door is the number of people who don’t spot signs limiting numbers, or think it doesn’t apply to them, or just can’t see far enough into the shop to count accurately how many people are there

When a high proportion your customers are vulnerable (pregnant) removing those possibilities for error seem pretty sensible

YANBU.

I am heavily pregnant and have PGP. Due to lockdown, wasn't able to do any actual shopping earlier in my pregnancy when I was more able to walk. However, I did want to choose something for my baby in an actual shop so I traipsed over to JoJo Maman Bebe only to have to wait at the door to be let in, then literally locked inside. Walked around the shop feeling like a prisoner and then had to wait to be let out. Took all the joy out of the experience and funnily enough i didn't buy anything.

It's a fire risk. I actually said that to the shop assistant on the way out. We are more likely to die by being trapped in a locked shop due to a fire than we are of catching covid and dying from it.

PS and I don't like this paternalistic bollocks about protecting pregnant women, a woman is perfectly capable of making her own decisions about health and safety when she is pregnant, if she wants to go shopping she should be able to. I wore a mask and washed my hands like everyone else.

That sounds like a policy destined to ensure they end up on the list of shops which have gone out of business due to covid.

Literally millions of visits are made every single day to shops with their doors open and no one counting the shoppers, what do JoJo think is different about the relatively small number of shoppers who want to go to their shops that mean they have to be locked out.

It makes no sense at all

I'd shop elsewhere if they don't want my money

I guess they would like your money but don’t particularly want you transmitting Covid to vulnerable pregnant women. A bit like overseas destinations that are desperate for tourism but have strict Covid measures in place

Calledyoulastnightfromglasgow The risk form covid is currently minuscule

Yes it is, but that's only because we have recently emerged from months-long lockdown. I think some people are unnerved because we have no way of knowing what's going to happen as we approach winter. Everything might be fine and the risk will stay low or it might not.

This does seem over kill though, but I feel sorry for retail staff. They are only doing what the store owners tell them to. There was another thread yesterday moaning about a shop worker asking a customer to remove their mask as they were having trouble hearing their order.

I used to spend loads with jojo Instore and online. Have spent nothing since January which is unusual for me.

The locked door policy is off putting i want twice before masks were made compulsory the first time I knocked and waited but no one came I was with my toddler so we left. The second time I was alone but just felt uncomfortable being “locked in” quick browse and I was off. It was not remotely enjoyable.

@Aridane

I'd shop elsewhere if they don't want my money

I guess they would like your money but don’t particularly want you transmitting Covid to vulnerable pregnant women. A bit like overseas destinations that are desperate for tourism but have strict Covid measures in place

If you're going to make comparisons surely they should be with other retailers to have any kind of validity. No major retailer and not a single shop I've come across or heard of until now has a locked door policy.

Do their management have no awareness of the rest of the retail world, I'm genuinely interested in their risk appraisal procedure.

Their customer demographic is one that by its nature will be taking the most precautions against all types of illness their policy is more akin to a hospital covid ward.

There's an independent store locally that still has a locked door system and is only letting one person/household in at a time.

Absolutely no way I could go in there without feeling under pressure to buy something, especially with others potentially queuing in the rain outside. It's a gift type shop that is nice to browse in usual times but this system is very off-putting. Add compulsory masks to the mix and there is no pleasure from shopping at all...

@AnotherEmma it’s not about being paternalistic towards pregnant women, it’s because they don’t actually know if COVID-19 affects the development of an unborn child if the mother contracts it. They won’t know that for some years yet. So the. RCOG is erring on the side of caution and saying pregnant women should be considered vulnerable and should act accordingly.

Not everybody is taking temperatures. It would put me off though yes.

[quote Histrionicz]@AnotherEmma it’s not about being paternalistic towards pregnant women, it’s because they don’t actually know if COVID-19 affects the development of an unborn child if the mother contracts it. They won’t know that for some years yet. So the. RCOG is erring on the side of caution and saying pregnant women should be considered vulnerable and should act accordingly.[/quote]
Oh but it is, lots of people on this thread are saying that customers are being locked in to "protect vulnerable pregnant women". Well actually I'm a "vulnerable pregnant woman", I'm perfectly capable of reading the RCOG guidelines and making my own decision about whether to go into a shop or not, and no I don't want my status as pregnant and supposedly "vulnerable" to be used as an excuse to keep me prisoner and unable to escape immediately in case of fire.

I am pregnant and went to Jojo the other day. The locked door thing made me feel like a nucense and not welcome. I felt uncomfortable walking around, like they were waiting for me to leave. I did buy something but it was the specific thing I went in for and was in the sale. I didn't have much of a look around because of being 'locked in'.
I went back the following week to see if they had changed their policy so I could have a look around. They hadn't so I carried on walking and went to m&s and John Lewis instead. Seems like a sure set way to go out of business to me

I guess different businesses have to judge where they are going to pitch themselves. If I was pregnant,I'd really appreciate being in a calm quiet environment. It may also be better in their business model to have a reduced number of high-spending customers? Maybe their average customer is at the covid-aware end of the spectrum, plus happy to spend quite a bit?

I've started avoiding some shops that are a bit scrumlike.

Great way to ensure your retailer is the next one on the liquidation/adminisration/bankruptcy list.

What a total overreaction. Footfall in high street stores is way down. Having another barrier to getting people in, whether it's counting people in and out, queuing or hazard tape everywhere.

Our local independent book shop has done this too, so now I don't go there and nor do many other people. Which is sad and makes me feel a bit guilty - it was hard enough for it to compete with Amazon anyway, I can't imagine it'll be open in a year - but I'm not deliberately going to a shop that makes me feel unwelcome and uncomfortable out of pity.

My understanding is that the temperature thing is basically theatre - using forehead thermometers, especially from a distance, is really inaccurate and most people don't have a temperature for most of the time that they're contagious. It's basically a little ritual to make everyone feel like they're doing something rather than an actually effective measure.

In case it's relevant, incidentally, I'm pregnant.