{"id":151786,"date":"2020-11-08T11:24:02","date_gmt":"2020-11-08T11:24:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bnreport.com\/?p=151786"},"modified":"2020-11-08T11:27:02","modified_gmt":"2020-11-08T11:27:02","slug":"will-england-ban-non-essential-sales-in-supermarkets-new-rules-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bnreport.com\/en\/will-england-ban-non-essential-sales-in-supermarkets-new-rules-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"Will England ban non-essential sales in supermarkets? New rules explained"},"content":{"rendered":"

With many supermarkets these days selling much more than groceries, from clothes and books to kettles and bed sheets, it’s left some shoppers wondering what they can and can’t buy.<\/p>\n

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And in Wales\u00a0supermarkets were forced to cover up these kinds of non-essential items<\/a>\u00a0when the country entered lockdown in October.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0new rules<\/a>\u00a0for the second\u00a0coronavirus<\/a>\u00a0lockdown in England don’t go this far, but there may be parts of stores that you can’t shop in.<\/p>\n

Here, we talk you through the rules and how they apply to supermarkets and other types of shops selling essential and non-essential items.<\/p>\n

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Can supermarkets sell non-essential items?<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The government has issued fresh guidance on what’s called “mixed retail” – that’s where a shop is selling different types of items.<\/p>\n

It says that aisles in supermarkets where non-essential items are available will not be closed or blocked off.<\/p>\n

But where there is a more substantial standalone business within a supermarket, this should close.<\/p>\n

The government guidance says: “A business selling a significant amount of essential retail may also continue to sell goods typically sold at non-essential retail.”<\/p>\n

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And it offers an example that a supermarket that sells food is not required to close off or cordon off aisles selling homeware.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

But where there is a concession, which is a standalone business within a store that is distinct from the main store and it’s selling non-essential items, that should close.<\/p>\n

Here’s what the government guidance says: “Where a business selling essential retail has another, separate business embedded within it that is required to close, the embedded business must close.<\/p>\n

It gives an example that an electronics business operating a concession within a supermarket must close, as would a bookshop business inside a garden centre.<\/p>\n

It also says: “Where a business has sufficiently distinct parts, and one section provides essential retail and one section provides non-essential retail, the non-essential sections should close to limit interactions between customers and the opportunity for the disease to spread.<\/p>\n

“Sufficiently distinct sections might involve operating in separate buildings, across separate floors, a door between sections, using separate cashiers, or another clear demarcation between sections.<\/p>\n

It gives an example that a food shop may stay open, but a homeware section on a separate floor or separate building should close.<\/p>\n

We’ve contacted Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury’s to see if standalone concessions for clothing or other other similar separate in-store businesses will close.<\/p>\n

Asda has George Clothing, Tesco has F&F Clothing and Sainsbury’s has Tu.<\/p>\n

Argos stores within Sainsbury’s will be closed<\/a>\u00a0except for click and collect services – it has to close under the rules but can let people pick up orders made online.<\/p>\n

Sainsbury’s also has Habitat “mini stores” in some locations while Tesco has concessions of some Arcadia brands, which includes Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Burton.<\/p>\n

What about non-essential retailers which also sell food?<\/h4>\n

There are places like department stores which sell mainly items like clothes and homeware that are considered non-essential but also sell some food.<\/p>\n

For instance John Lewis has Waitrose foodhalls in some of its stores and Selfridges also has a foodhall.<\/p>\n

Under the guidance above, the food parts can remain open because they are selling essentials.<\/p>\n

You can’t shop in any of the rest of the stores where non-essentials are sold because they are distinctly separate.<\/p>\n

At John Lewis, you can pick up click and collect orders but not shop in store, apart from Waitrose foodhalls in Oxford Street and Bluewater.<\/p>\n

Waitrose stores next to John Lewis in Kingston upon Thames, Basingstoke, Horsham and Ipswich remain open too.<\/p>\n

At Selfridges, the foodhall of its flagship Oxford Street location is open.<\/p>\n

At M&S, which is known for its food and clothes, the rules for England’s lockdown are as follows:<\/p>\n