Yahoo Finance Coronavirus: Greggs to reopen 800 stores from mid-June
UK bakery chain Greggs (GRG.L) said on Tuesday that it planned to reopen many outlets from the middle of June, nearly three months after it closed all 2,050 of its stores.
The company is hoping to open around 800 of its stores following a pilot project in Tyneside, Newcastle.
“We have planned and delivered robust shop trials using our new operational safety measures and they have progressed well, allowing us to now move to open an increased number of our shops from mid-June,” Greggs said on Tuesday.
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The announcement comes after prime minister Boris Johnson said on Monday (25 May) that non-essential retailers could reopen from 15 June, provided the outlook for the coronavirus crisis does not worsen.
Most restaurants and food outlets have been closed since the UK-wide lockdown was introduced in March, more than two months ago.
Some chains remained open for takeaway and delivery services, and McDonald’s earlier this month began reopening stores in the UK and Ireland.
Starbucks also reopened around 150 of its stories earlier this month.
Greggs said that it had been running trials for a month in more than a dozen stores as part of its pilot project, which was launched to determine how it could reopen stores while facilitating social distancing.
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The chain was forced to scale back the pilot project, which involved a limited menu for walk-in customers, due to the risk that “excessive” numbers of customers were planning to flock to the outlets.
Initially, it instead chose to conduct trials behind closed doors before expanding the scope of the project.
The company has warned that that sales will be “significantly lower than normal” while social distancing measures are in place in its stores.
Chief executive Roger Whiteside previously signaled that Greggs was hoping to reopen all 2,050 stores by 1 July, but it is not clear if that remains the chain’s plan.
