Retail and non-essential shops opened again today after a month long second national lockdown in England.
On the first day of eased lockdown restrictions, Manchester city centre was surprisingly quiet.
There were very few queues inside or outside stores on both Market Street at the Arndale Centre, and some stores had no customers at all.
With only three weeks until Christmas, it’s easy to see why many people feel it’s a worrying time for retail and the economy.
One shopper said: “It doesn’t seem to be as busy as I thought; even though it is nice to see shops open again.”
Although high streets aren’t very busy, people seem to be abiding to social distancing restrictions and shopping safely regardless of it being the first day out of lockdown.
England was put into a four-week national lockdown on November 4 which ended today.
And while some shoppers were delighted to be back on the high street, not everyone agreed with non-essential shops being opened so soon.
Another shopper said: “Personally I don’t think shops should have opened, clearly the rate of cases is still high so it’s too soon for this to happen.”
There is still hope that this Christmas season will give shops the chance of surviving the second wave this winter after so many months of being forced to close.
Photo credit: Jaz Burton
