Major Horsham town centre store reveals reopening date

The town’s John Lewis store will be one of 11 branches opening on Thursday June 18.

A spokeswoman for the firm said it is opening just under a quarter of its stores as part of a ‘steady, gradual approach’ with rigorous safety and social distancing measures in place.

Horsham District Councillor Christian Mitchell (Holbrook West) said: “For John Lewis to announce that their Horsham store is among the first 11 branches national stores to open on June 18 is a huge vote of confidence for Horsham and will be a real boost to the local economy.

“It shows that Horsham is open for business as nationally we carefully move out of lockdown whilst remaining alert to this dreadful virus”.

Stores in Poole and Kingston will open on June 15.

Sharon White, partner and chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, said: “The momentous events of the last few months have tested our resilience as a business, but our resourcefulness, innovation and the spirit of cooperation between partners has really shone through.

“It’s been heartwarming to see John Lewis partners stepping into different roles to support our Waitrose supermarkets and to keep johnlewis.com running and I’m proud of everything our partners across both our brands have done to help us get to this point.

“Our shops reopening is a sign of hope as we begin to find our new normal.

“There’s an opportunity, now, for us, to come back stronger as a business, and offer the safety and reassurance that customers will want.

“However, while we have experience of social distancing in our Waitrose shops, we will need to establish new ways of working in our department stores. We are taking this cautious approach to be able to learn as we go and to make sure that our shops are as safe as they can possibly be for our customers and Partners.”

A raft of measures will be in place to keep customers and staff safe, based off what the firm has learned through its Waitrose stores.

A customer service host will welcome customers into the store and answer any questions while managing customer numbers, queues both at entrances and busy areas of the shop and explain to customers what changes they might see in store.

There will also be reduced entrances, caps on customer numbers, prominent social distancing signage and protective screens at checkouts where social distancing cannot be observed.

Other measures in place will include control procedures for escalators and lifts limiting the number of users, rigorous and frequent cleaning,provision of hand sanitiser for customers to use at all entrances, social distancing in back of house areas and a new contactless payment limit of £45.

The spokeswoman said additional customer services will be limited.

She added: “Close-contact beauty services will not be offered and customer catering outlets and fitting rooms will remain closed until further notice.

“In line with government guidance we are going to separate returned stock from new or old stock for 72 hours.

“Customers will be able to learn more about the measures we are taking in our branches via a short film, which will be hosted on johnlewis.com.

“Depending on customer feedback and how the first phase of openings progress, other initiatives which may be considered include: virtual queueing, returns drop boxes and enabling Click and Collect from our branch carparks.

“Prior to opening, each shop will undertake a four-week reopening preparation programme. This includes counting stock, replenishment, preparation of systems, merchandising, deep cleaning, the introduction of social distancing measures, partner training and final pre-opening checks.”