Is everyone going into shops as usual for things you can’t get online?

[Viv0321]

Is everyone going into shops as usual? The ones you can’t get online such as b&m home bargains etc.

Yep.

@BoneAppleTeeth

Also going to shops for things I could get online...

Me too. I hate buying clothes online.

I have been going to the shops since they reopened. I would rather support our local economy than support Amazon.

Yes, why someone who is not vulnerable would't go to the shops at all (some comments here since March).
I personally wouldn't be able to do that, I would have a mental breakdown.
I have to go to the office once a week, so I tend to do any shopping needed on that day too.
But I am glad for my one day a week of going to the office (I work there in a very small office for myself) and going to the shops sometimes life would be too depressing otherwise.

I am shopping online far more frequently and avoiding shopping mainly as I don't find it that enjoyable at the moment. I food shop in store as I can and don't want to take a slot someone else can use.

But yesterday I had a shopping day in London for the first time since covid, bought non essentials that could have been purchased online and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Masks aside
I find absolutely no difference to my shopping experience whatsoever

I've only done weekly supermarket shopping and pharmacy when needed since March. Everything else comes from Amazon. I'm mask exempt and it's been made very clear that I'm not wanted in shops (or pubs/restaurants now). Now Aldi are rolling out Click and Collect, I'm hoping we'll be getting it in this area in the near future.

Yes and I was on the shielding list. I went to a shopping centre a further bus ride away from me last week and it did me the world of good. I'm starting to get my steps, in daily again. The cafes etc are still full wherever I go, mainly of people over 50, the buses aren't much emptier, especially of elderly people. I've put on weight and I think the risks of that is as equal, if not more, than going out a bit more than I was.

My DD still goes to our (Liverpool) Town centre and says it is only a bit quieter.

Yes. I avoided shops completely during the first lockdown, but now I have a better idea of the relative risks.

We are in a Tier 1 area, so risk is low anyway - but I think you are far more likely to catch Covid from interacting with friends, family and colleagues than with a careful and socially-distanced visit to a shop or supermarket.

No not unless genuinely essential maybe 3 times since March. Rest done online.

The virus spreads by people moving around. We are in a Tier 1 area and am going to do my bit to try and make it stay that way. My 'online shopping ' is almost entirely from local shops who have adapted to the situation and deliver. This way I can support local businesses and slow the spread.

Yes, I don't shop online much. I don't like paying delivery fees. Even during lockdown I went to the supermarket twice a week.

This thread is so sad, all the posters not leaving their houses unless they deem it essential. Nothing shows the contrast between real life and the alternative MN universe more than this. The vast majority of the world is carrying on going about their business in the new normal way yet a subsection has scared themselves into not venturing part their front doors

Do both

We were shielding and 3 of us are vulnerable. We have shopped at Ocado for a number of years and have a smart pass, so that is ongoing.

We support local business when we can, the greengrocer delivers, we buy supplies from the village baker and hardware shop etc. I plan visits to shops. It is all very covid safe.

I would call this sensible, given that community infection figures are 53-90k and rising. Why scoff at people for being sensible?

Yes I'm shopping normally. I hate shopping online and avoid it as much as possible.

@PleasantVille

This thread is so sad, all the posters not leaving their houses unless they deem it essential. Nothing shows the contrast between real life and the alternative MN universe more than this. The vast majority of the world is carrying on going about their business in the new normal way yet a subsection has scared themselves into not venturing part their front doors

Well evidently the ‘new way of normal’ of people going out and about isn’t working is it? Hence why we have nearly 100k of new infections a day. Maybe if people just tried to curtail things a bit we would have less. Just because the government deems it ok and ‘safe’ to do certain things it doesn’t actually mean it really is. Do you not think that there is always an agenda behind the government’s rules?

Schools are safe. Back as normal = we don’t have to spend any money on them and can keep them all underfunded as usual.

Go out shopping as normal = more money for the economy. If an extra 30k people die as a result then who gives a shit

No, didn’t enjoy the shopping experience before Covid, certainly wouldn’t now. I can get everything I need online.

Also, I don’t feel sad or deprived by that. I feel lucky to have the choice.

I have seen people saying online how ‘sad’ it is or ‘ridiculous’ if people are so ‘scared’ that they won’t go out - I’m not scared, deprived or anxious about Covid. But I have an income to protect and children I would like to have educated, so I choose to stay at home as much as possible in the hope that I reduce our risk of needing to isolate or take time off sick. My family, my risk assessment, my choice.

I don’t appreciate being judged for it, or thought of with pity. You do you etc.

Yes but I do try to avid busy times or if I go and it's busy will leave quickly. I've started browsing for Christmas present ideas mainly online trying to use etsy rather than amazon!

Generally. But I baulked at supermarket shopping yesterday because Morrison's was evidently busy (went in to buy vapes) and I predicted Lidl would be even worse.

I'd say I'm doing the exact opposite of your question. I'm only buying online the things I can't get in my local shops. I'm lucky enough to live in a town with a good selection of independent shops and a small weekly food market and I'd really like them to be here when this is all over. The shops are mainly small, and only allow small no.s of people in at a time so are pretty safe. I also shop in my local supermarket, which I've never felt unsafe in. The only stuff I'm buying online is clothes (as what's the point of visiting shops if you can't try anything on?) wine, catfood in bulk and coffee beans.

@Dontrainonmyparade - quite so. Being sick back in March was rubbish (no community testing back then, but weeks of low-grade fever, exhaustion, coughing, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, draw your own conclusions) and I am not looking for a rematch. We need to keep DS in school and can't avoid that risk.

As for the rest of 'normal life' in the 'real world'? Well, for a decade prior to my illness I was commuting daily on the train, in the shops after work, eating out and going to the pub regularly. Do I miss any of it? Nah, not really. I like shopping, but not enough to risk my health over it. Ditto the pub. WFH is likely to be permanent, and there's no way I'm going back to the office (dozens of people got ill at the same time across DH's office and mine: this thing is contagious AF and an open plan office with aircon is evidently a perfect environment for transmission). So, I'm rather enjoying my new lifestyle, I'll take a year or two out, longer if I need to, nothing to be sad about.

@Starlight101 - you are quite right, and I have found that it's best to look at what the government is encouraging us to do (Eat out! Go shopping! Do some 'socially distanced' activities with people in a park somewhere! Go back to the office!), then completely ignore it and do the opposite.