Customers will be asked to wash their hands upon entering Lush stores when they throw open their doors to shoppers in England on Monday.
Lush is reopening 88 shops in England on Monday, June 15 after closing for nearly three months. Scotland, Wales and Ireland opening dates are still to be confirmed.
Alongside local government guidelines – such as observing advised social distancing rules, no hands-on demonstrations and having a safe queuing system to enter – there will be a raft of other safety measures for each Lush shop reopening in England.
No product testers will be on display, shops will have pre-filled sample pots of some of Lush’s most popular products, complete with a tamper proof seal, and till points will be 2m apart and be installed with recycled and recyclable perspex screens.
There will be lower staffing levels to begin with and workers will have a continuous cleaning rota. Lush will be providing face coverings for staff to use if they wish.
And kiosk purchasing at the front door may be set up in a number of shops to begin with, avoiding the need for customers to enter the shop at all.
Lush say they have been reviewing feedback from what has been working well in other countries who have already reopened.
Customers can also download the Lush Labs app on android and iPhone and scan unpackaged products in-store. The phone’s camera and Machine Learning are able to recognise products and give the customer detailed ingredient information, price and "how to use" demonstrations through immersive videos via the app.
The Lush Spa and Hair Lab bookings will continue to be suspended until further notice. All party bookings will also be suspended – digital party formats are currently being worked on.
The brand is asking all customers to pay by card and will not be taking cash, but they say this will be assessed weekly.
At the point of lockdown each individual Lush shop did all they could to pass their stock, especially the soap which had run out in supermarkets at that time, to charities and groups in their local communities. As a result, all shops will reopen with fresh stock that is only days old.
Shops can choose to run some of the following:
- Order and collect
- Virtual consultations: Moving some of the customer experience online so that when customers come into store they can pick up their products quickly and easily.
- Taking orders from the queue outside: Orders can be ready and bagged when the customer enters the shop, limiting the amount of time the customer has to spend in the shop.
Lush operates in 48 countries with more than 900 shops.
