John Lewis prepares to open stores with plastic sheets, disposable socks and sneeze screens

DEPARTMENT store giant John Lewis is set to start reopening some of its stores next week with special sheets so customers can try out beds and disposable socks for shoes.

The Sun was yesterday given the chance of visiting one of the first stores to open on Monday where staff have been busy refitting the shop with social distancing measures.

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Its stores in Kingston Upon Thames and Poole in Dorset open on Monday, followed by 11 others on Thursday.

They are located in Bluewater in Kent, Cambridge, Cheadle, Cheltenham, High Wycombe, Horsham, Ipswich, Norwich, Nottingham, Solihull and Welwyn.

The department store group said it would reopen further stores during the summer, depending on how shoppers respond to the social distancing measures in place.

As they reopen the changing rooms and cafes are closed. But bosses said many changes had been made to make the experience as normal as possible. Customers will be given disposable “pop socks” for when they try on shoes.

And they will he provided with a plastic sheet which they can use to place down on a bed before then trying out another - similar to what is handed out at dentists.

A new drop box is being introduced at the front of stores for customers who want to return something they have had delivered online during lockdown. Another important change is an eight person limit on escalators.

There are also sneeze screens at the tills and an increase to £45 for contactless payments. The firm’s executive director for customer service, Berangere Michel, told The Sun: “We’re really excited to be getting our stores reopened.

“We’ve been running our online service as normal, but we can’t wait to get back serving in the shops. I’ve actually had customers writing to me personally asking when are we reopening.

'ENJOY IT SAFELY'

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“I think this is a reawakening of the British community. There will be changes. Unfortunately the fitting rooms and the cafes won’t be able to open yet in stores. They will when safe and we legally can.

“But with our stores we have adapted to make sure they are safe. There’s a lot that’s still open. Our opticians are, you can still come and buy furniture.

“You can even still come in and get on a bed and try it out. The only difference is we’ll give you a plastic protective sheet. It’s like what you get at a dentist.

“These are little tweaks we are making. We have pop socks for people to wear when trying on shoes. We understand it’s so important to try and beds and shoes before you buy them so that’s why we’ve done this.

“You can still get advice from out staff but from a distance. We’ve also got the limit on our escalators. We’re really here for people. A lot is as normal but we’ve tweaked it so people can enjoy it safely.”

She said a plan was being drawn up for customers who could not get into the shops yet was for an online service where customers can talk to as assistant in a shop who could show them around on a video call.

She added: “We have our plan to open stores in place and we’re excited. We’ve got two on Monday, then the 11 and then we will announce the others when we can.

“Then we’ll see how we go. We’re doing everything we can to make it as safe and enjoyable as possible.”

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The number of entrances at each store will be reduced and there will also be a cap on the number of customers - depending on the size of each shop. There will also be a lot of hand sanitiser available.

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Sharon White, Partner & 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 running and I’m proud of everything our Partners across both our brands have done to help us get to this point.”