Genesco's Schuh starts to reopen UK and Irish stores, sees encouraging start

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jun 8, 2020

UK footwear chain Schuh said on Monday that it's been encouraged by the reopening of its two shops in the Channel Islands as it prepares to open more stores this week and next week.

The company, which is owned by US group Genesco, said those two locations made "an encouraging start". And it's now opening another three shops in Ireland today with the remaining stores reopening from June 15, alongside the majority of Schuh stores in England. All stores will initially operate reduced trading hours. 

There’s no news yet on when non-English UK stores will reopen with the Scotland-based firm awaiting further advice from the devolved governments before a reopening plan can be confirmed in these countries. 

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As with other retailers reopening, the company’s new safety measures include hand sanitiser stations, PPE for staff, enhanced cleaning, new floor layouts and controls on the number of customers in-store at any one time.

As far as quarantining products is concerned, the company said customer returns will be quarantined for 72 hours, while shoes that have been tried on but not purchased will be treated with a disinfectant spray before being made available for purchase.

The company has been able to operate for part of the lockdown period via its webstore. It had originally closed the online operation when the lockdown started but was later able to reopen it with new hygiene and safety measures in place. Its experience here will have helped inform its approach to the reopening of its physical shops.