Next reveals which stores will be open by Monday, June 15

Fashion retailer Next has announced which stores it plans to open as the lockdown relaxes on Monday, June 15.

The chain said 64 of its 500 shops will be opening their doors for the first time since the lockdown – with others following “relatively quickly”.

They are among the non-essential stores the Government has given permission to get back on track as the slow process of reopening the economy continues.

Next had already opened 50 of its Home stores and Home departments inside bigger stores under the last change in rules. A further 14 re-opened this week.

The business was also given permission to open fashion departments where they shared premises with Home shops.

That means 55 fashion departments will already have opened by the end of this week.

It means in all the Leicestershire headquartered chain will have 128 of its shops open by Monday.

A spokesman for the business said: “Many more Next stores will be re-opening relatively quickly after June 15.

“All the ‘new normal’ things, namely limits to customer numbers in store at any given time, queuing systems in place outside of the stores, abundant signage on social distancing, one way ‘arrow marked’ routes around the store in some places, screens at the tills to protect both customers and staff.

“There will also be PPE available for staff to wear, multiple hand sanitisation stations for both staff and customer use, regular cleaning of equipment, card machines and work-stations, together with a programme of rigorous staff training around all the new procedures.

“NEXT will be following the UK government’s guidelines, so it will quarantine all customer returned goods (whether originally bought online at next.co.uk or from a store) for at least 72 hours after its return.

“All the fitting rooms will remain closed – again per UK government guidelines.”

Days before the full lockdown came in Simon Wolfson, chief executive of the £4.2 billion turnover group, told shareholders he was expecting a “worst case” drop in sales of £1 billion.

However, the temporary shutdown of its online operation alongside the shop closures saw the business warn in late April that it could actually be facing a £1.6 billion worst case sales slump this year.