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 went to a Jojo last week (in Stroud) and the door was open... I also went to a Gap somewhere else and was about to try a cardigan on but was told I couldn’t so I left it. As if I’m going to buy a £40 cardi without trying it on, I get the thinking but I’d already picked it up.

I actually thought they hadn't reopened. I don't have one locally so will always pop in when I'm somewhere with one.

I was in Brighton, noticed the shop but thought it had closed for the afternoon. I tried again the following day and it still looked locked up so I just went elsewhere.

They are really shooting themselves in the foot.

The fact is, shops are going to have to work extra hard to keep customers and not fold.

I'm happy to have my temp checked at a hairdressers for example - but not a shop that I am popping in and out of. I would do it if I desperately needed something and I couldn't get it online, but I wouldn't choose to go into a shop which made me feel unwelcome. Lots of shops are managing without going OTT.

I have worked safely throughout lock down, visited a supermarket once a week the whole way through and now am socialising in pubs/restaurants etc.
All controlled, all safely.
If there's any hint I'm not welcome, then I wouldn't darken their doors - they can go out of business, that's their choice - I'm not going to sweat it, they want to make bad business decisions then go ahead.
Another business will take the trade, this is a pivotal time in retailing, a lot of brands will fall, but the good/popular brands will make it.

If I was actually worried about the risk of Covid to myself then I would prefer the door wide open for ventilation.

I appreciate staff are probably worried about C19, however it's exactly the sort of thing that is driving shoppers to use online more and more. I
think retail in terms of actual shops was dying before C19, this has just hastened it. Those that successfully transition to online will be the ones that survive.

@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.”

Is it a tiny shop? The 2 branches of JJMMBB I am familiar with are absolutely tiny shops.

The pregnant woman thing sort of makes sense...except that pregnant women don't just buy baby clothes and are also going into other shops which aren't taking these measures. So what is the point?

I wouldn't go into a shop that had locked doors and I wouldn't go into a shop where the staff chase you round to make sure you're not touching anything/straying into an area you didn't say you were going to look in at the outset (according to MN, Currys is doing this).

I prefer online shopping anyway as I find service in shops either over the top chasing you round or ignoring you. This will just hasten the closure of many more high street stores.

I think anyone who wants to go for a pleasant browse around the High Street is going to be disappointed. The fun factor is gone completely.

@heartsonacake

I also don’t go places which take my temperature. I know when I feel ill with a fever and covid or not, I wouldn’t be out.

Calledyoulastnightfromglasgow You might not, but there are plenty of idiots who will go out when they’re not well with Covid.

Exactly! People ignore it which it’s why it’s a pandemic! I have had it but had no symptoms at all. DH is still struggling 2 and a bit months later, with the problems that come after. He was in bad shape. I only knew I had it because DH had symptoms so we were both tested. Both came back positive but since I had no symptoms and felt fine I was tested again. They said I was one of the few that appear to be a symptomatic. I don’t think I’m lucky because I feel sick thinking about the amount of people I could have unknowingly infected. It’s a pandemic and people are dying. People browsing and wanting to look at pretty things should not be a higher concern than the spread of this shitful virus

I didn't even realise they had physical shops, I've bought a few things online the sales over the years, but thought they were fully online, oops.

One is closed and the other blocked by a small crate with a sign on saying something like "please wait for a member of staff to let you in"

If they're going down the route of blocking entry this seems more sensible, it's obvious they are open but they can control when people enter etc. A locked door is a fire risk, unless they are leaving the key in the door ready to unlock, which seems unlikely.

There are a couple of hardware shops near me that have a locked door policy. I don’t really like being locked in, but it’s marginally better than the Screwfix nearby, where there are lots of signs about maintaining distance but a slightly frustrating approach to it. What they need is a spot on the floor, two metres from the counter, with the words ‘please wait here’ or something similar. Instead the spot on the floor is confusingly 3 metres from the counter, just a little too far away for staff and customers to hear each other properly while speaking through several layers of cotton mask. So everyone is shouting throughout the transaction.

The 3 metre thing is oddly disconcerting after being in dozens of other shops with floor dots spaced at 2 metres. But then most shopping experiences feel a bit weird these days.

If I was actually worried about the risk of Covid to myself then I would prefer the door wide open for ventilation.

This is also a good point, many shops have hardly any windows, definitely not enough to her a decent air flow. Surely they just need someone on or around the door, and an obvious queueing area outside?

@FuckwitMcGee

FFS. You can always spot the people who have no clue what its like for retailers.

If they don't start welcoming customers and having stock to sell, they'll be picking up their P45s. Lots of shops (particularly small independents) are managing to open pretty normally - some of the chains are shooting themselves in the foot.

If it helps control the flow of customers, ensures those entering the shops are wearing masks and sanitise their hands, I’m all for it. Small inconvenience to ensure safety in the time of a pandemic.

The Crouch end JoJo the staff have always been as you say jittery even before Covid. I find the locked door really bizarre and unwelcoming. Then when you get in there the staff just chat and ignore you when you’re trying to pay, it’s like they dong really want to be open but are doing us a huge favour. I’ve stopped going in there when I used to go regularly.

The one I find really hard is my local B&Q - nearly all the staff are older and I guess that's why they're so cautious, which I have sympathy with. But they make it incredibly clear that they'd rather you weren't there, have deliberately set up the store to make it hard to use, allow a very low number for the size of the shop in so there are often big queues. Again, I really understand why they are so cautious - I believe they've had a long-standing policy of hiring retirees and their staff are notably older than any other shop I go to - but that doesn't change the fact that, as a customer, it's a lot easier to go to Homebase.

‘But a fair bit of shopping (for me) comes from browsing and unpremeditated purchases... If I’m wearing a mask, using the sanitiser upon entry and keeping my distance, I can’t see why I shouldn’t do that’

Because wandering aimlessly around a store (ska browsing) increases the risks of transmitting and contacting COVID.
And whilst most people don’t have serious symptoms etc etc we've only managed to kill off 50 odd thousand of our most vulnerable members if society so far.
Still plenty of scope for deaths.

I’m no longer shopping in our M&S food hall because the numbers of middle aged women sauntering around, pulling out EVERY tub of flaming coleslaw to find the longest dates and changing direction 40 times. Gived me the rage.
Not to mention the abuse retail staff are getting.
We’re still in a global pandemic. Shopping habits have to change.

Until the general public accept that it’s no real wonder retailers are taking these measures. Your browsing days are over for now.

If it helps control the flow of customers, ensures those entering the shops are wearing masks and sanitise their hands, I’m all for it. Small inconvenience to ensure safety in the time of a pandemic

But it's to the detriment of other safety aspects as PPs have pointed out. A locked door with customers (and staff inside) is absolutely a fire risk, and regarding covid the advice to anywhere indoors is to increase the airflow as much as possible; a closed door does not do that. It is also fairly easily remedied by a staff member near the door to monitor people going in and out.

The EuroCarParts shop near me was doing that when I went there to get a click and collect order. Locked door and only 1 customer in at a time.

The shop bit that the customers are allowed in is very, very small though. It’d be impossible for 2 customers to keep a 2m distance from each other while also keeping a 2m distance from the till.

The locked door system seemed to be working well there, but from what I saw while I was waiting outside for my order, the staff were keeping a good eye out for any customers waiting to go in the shop. (They had a click and collect system where you tell the staff member on the till the order number, and then wait outside for another staff member to bring the order out from the warehouse)

Until the general public accept that it’s no real wonder retailers are taking these measures. Your browsing days are over for now.

Unless shops change their ways, they'll be boarded up by this time next year. Internet shopping was already hammering the High Street, and covid may well kill it off.

Some shops are keeping their shelves full and welcoming customers with minimal restrictions (just the standard person on the door ensuring not too many at once, cleaning station, etc). If some can do it, others can too.

There's a small butcher's shop near me with signs outside in capital letters reminding people to SOCIAL DISTANCE, USE HAND SANITISER, WAIT OUTSIDE, limiting customer numbers etc. Previously had one about NO PANIC BUYING!!! etc. All perfectly reasonable expectations but done in such an unfriendly way I don't feel welcome and will continue buying meat from the supermarket instead. The greengrocers next door are doing much better - same size shop but rather than limit customers and put up a load of signs they set up a stall outside. Customers wait at the stall and the staff go and get what they want. They often have customers waiting %being served outside and the butcher doesn't.

I’m likely to fail a skin temperature test due to frequent menopausal hot flushes.

Shopping is no pleasure at the moment so it’s yet another reason not to bother

Sounds completely nuts. And I work in retail.

@SnuggyBuggy
I totally agree
I've made a list of all of the Christmas presents I need and we've been working our way down it online! The ques etc.. are just ridiculous even now so can you imagine the availability issues and ques in October/ November and December??

The one local to me ambushed me with sanitiser the second they admitted me and insisted they had to apply it! I found this most disconcerting. This, plus being locked in a shop with no ventilation and having to ask to be let out, has completely put me off - totally unwelcoming.