Halfords to reopen 53 stores for the first time since lockdown as bosses expect a surge in customers wanting to drive
HALFORDS plans to reopen 53 stores to customers for the first time since coronavirus lockdown.
The bike and motoring retailer said it's expecting a surge in customers wanting to get behind the wheel of cars that have been unused for several weeks.
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Halfords has been allowed to stay open throughout lockdown but it shut stores and operated online and from store car parks instead.
And following successful reopening trials at its Peterborough and Bristol Cribbs Causeway stores, it's now welcoming back customers for browsing too.
Of the 53 branches, 49 have already reopened with another four set to open their doors again this week. We've listed the locations below.
Halfords has 446 retail stores, 373 garages and 77 vans across the UK.
Which Halfords stores are reopening?
HALFORDS has reopened 49 branches, with another four to reopen this week.
- Aintree
- Ashford
- Aylesbury
- Basingstoke
- Bedford
- Braintree
- Cambridge
- Chatham
- Chelmsford
- Chester (reopening this week)
- Colchester (reopening this week)
- Cribbs Causeway
- Doncaster
- Dundee
- Eastbourne
- Edinburgh - Straiton
- Exeter
- Fareham
- Frome
- Gloucester
- Hamilton
- Harlow
- Hemel Hempstead (reopening this week)
- Hereford
- High Wycombe
- Huddersfield
- Inverness
- Ipswich Euro
- Leamington Spa
- Leicester, St Margarets
- Lincoln, Tritton
- Liverpool, Edge Lane
- Maidstone
- Milton Keynes
- New Malden
- Newport
- North Shields
- Norwich
- Peterborough
- Plymouth
- Poole
- Preston
- Sheffield, Queens
- Stevenage
- Stirling
- Stockport (reopening this week)
- Swindon
- Taunton
- Telford
- Thanet
- Wakefield
- Yeovil
- York
Halfords plans to gradually reopen the remaining stores for browsing too, but it couldn't confirm when this might happen.
You can find your nearest Halfords store by using its .
In order to keep staff and customers safe, the retailer has introduced a number of social distancing measures, including limits on the number of shoppers allowed in the store at any one time.
There'll also be safety notices and floor markings to remind customers about social distancing, as well as queue marshalls outside the shops.
Plus, shoppers will be asked not to handle or try on products.
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Graham Stapleton, chief executive of Halfords, 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.
"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.";
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Halfords is the latest retailer to reopen branches, with John Lewis planning a phased reopening.
You can check out which retailers and restaurant chains have reopened during lockdown here.
The government has also revealed the full list of non-essential shops allowed to reopen on June 15 including charity and betting stores.