London. Its shopping, its high street shops, department stores and heritage brands…
Like the rest of the country (and many parts of the world), London is currently on lockdown and none of its shops open. Non-essential retailers have been told to shut their doors again and the city streets are empty of shoppers and tourists.
Naturally, many of us are wondering when things will reopen, and while the exact answer seems to be eluding everyone, we do know a few things.
What we know
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has given a tentative date for the third lockdown to end: Monday 8 March. But before we pencil this date in and get too excited, this is what was actually said: the lockdown measures will remain in place until AT LEAST Monday 8 March 2021.
We should also note that the legislation on the new lockdown lasts until 31 March. The PM might be keen for schools to reopen on 8 March, but non-essential businesses – which includes shops – likely won’t be opening then.
Dominic Raab told the BBC that the easing of lockdown restrictions won’t be “a big bang” explaining that “it will be done phased, possibly back through the tiered approach that we had before.” If this means reverting to the tier system, non-essential shops might be open… but also might not.
What will it look like
We don’t know very much about when shops will re-open, but we have a clearer idea of what the streets of London will look like if, and when, they do.
The biggest news for Oxford Street lovers is that Topshop is no more. ASOS has bought Miss Selfridge, Topshop, Topman and HIIT, and ASOS is not a brick-and-mortar group.
Likewise, Boohoo Group bought Debenhams, Oasis and Warehouse, so they’re all going online. Boohoo is also eyeing up Burton, Dorothy Perkins and Wallis. TM Lewin has gone online only too, so a lot of empty retail spaces will greet us on our return to the high street.
It’s not all bleak though, with JD Sports cementing its King of Trainers title and Superdry offsetting some of its in-store losses online. John Lewis had given its staff access to rapid testing at the end of last year, which makes us think it’s not going anywhere. And neither is Selfridges, which is finally seeing a rise in sales (albeit online) and is promising to reopen its doors as soon as the Government allows it.
H&M is set to close 250 shops worldwide, whilst Zara is looking at 1,200 closures, though we don’t know yet where in the world these closures will be.
Elsewhere, after Harrods had had to close for the first time in 170 years – it never closed during the Blitz – but will likely reopen whenever it is safe to do so.
Sarah Kante
