Halfords to reopen more than 50 stores under social distancing model

Halfords has announced that it will be reopening 53 of its stores under what it terms a ‘Retail Lite’ operating model that will emphasise social distancing, following a successful trial of the concept at its stores in Peterborough and at Cribbs Causeway in Bristol.

It will be the first time that customers will be allowed inside Halfords stores since it began reopening some of its outlets at the end of March to provide essential services, with bike shops being one of the categories of retailers allowed to continue trading during lockdown.

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Currently, some 335 of the 446 Halfords stores throughout the country remained open, but under a ‘Dark Store’ model meaning customers have not been let into the premises to browse goods, instead placing orders with staff at outside the entrance and waiting for their purchases to be brought to them.

Most stores will continue to operate in that way for now, and Halfords says that it will gradually convert them to the Retail Lite model.

However, it has not set a fixed timetable or deadline for doing that, underlining that “the pace will instead be dictated entirely by the company’s confidence that it can keep its colleagues and customers safe.”

Halfords says that the social distancing measures being introduced at the Retail Lite stores include:

Only a safe number of customers allowed in the store at any one time

Queue marshalling in place outside the store

Safety notices and floor markings to remind customers about social distancing

Cleaning station at the front of the store, with supplies of hand sanitiser and wipes

‘Sneeze screens’ and visors for colleagues

Customers will be asked not to handle or try on products

Customers will be asked to book bike consultation and collection slots online or over the phone in advance, wherever possible.

The company’s CEO, Graham Stapleton, said: “We are pleased to be in a position to start letting our customers back into our stores.

“However, we are going to be reopening them to our customers gradually and cautiously in order to be absolutely certain that our colleagues and customers have a safe environment in which to work and shop.”

He confirmed that, in common with other retailers in the cycling sector, Halfords had enjoyed a boost in sales since governments across the four UK nations implemented emergency legislation in May, and expected that to continue as lockdown measures are gradually eased.

“There has been a big surge in demand for our bike products and services as people have taken to cycling during the lockdown, both for commuting and for fun.

“We are also anticipating a similar level of demand for our motoring products and services in the coming days, as people begin to use vehicles again that in some cases will have been off the road for many weeks.”

He added: “The launch of our new Retail Lite model will assist us in meeting this increased demand, which in turn will allow us to continue helping to keep the UK moving.”

The full list of stores that Halfords is reopening under the “Retail Lite” model is shown below.

Inverness
Stirling
Dundee
Edinburgh – Straiton
Hamilton
Preston
York
North Shields
Stockport
Aintree
Liverpool, Edge Lane
Huddersfield
Wakefield
Doncaster
Sheffield, Queens
Chester
Telford
Leicester, St Margarets
Newport
Gloucester
Hereford
Leamington Spa
Cribbs Causeway
Frome
Swindon
Poole
Basingstoke
Fareham
Plymouth
Exeter
Yeovil
Taunton
Peterborough
Lincoln, Tritton
Norwich
Ipswich Euro
Chelmsford
Braintree
Cambridge
Colchester
Aylesbury
Milton Keynes
Stevenage
Bedford
Hemel Hempstead
Harlow
High Wycombe
New Malden
Eastbourne
Maidstone
Ashford
Thanet
Chatham.