Scottish booksellers frustrated over 'vague' April reopening plan

Some Scottish booksellers have reacted with frustration to Nicola Sturgeon's announcement of an April reopening and are seeking further clarification of exactly when customers can return.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced yesterday (23rd February) that, as part of Scotland's route out of lockdown, four people from two households will be able to meet outdoors from 15th March, with school pupils also expected to go back from then.

Stay at home rules are expected to be lifted on 5th April, with retail starting to open up. Sturgeon said this would begin with an extension of the definition of essential retail and the removal of restrictions on click-and collect.

Sturgeon has previously branded bookshops “essential" retailers and, although closing them to customers, has allowed them to offer a click-and-collect service during lockdown, though it is not clear yet if they will be allowed to reopen at this point. If they do, they will be opening a week before England's bookshops, which have been given 12th April as the earliest reopening date, provided progress on suppressing the virus continues.

Non-essential retail, hospitality and services such as gyms and hairdressers reopen as part of a tiered system of restrictions in the final week of April. Further details of the plans will be set out next month, Sturgeon said.

She said: “From 26th April, assuming the data allows it, we will move back to levels, with hopefully all of Scotland that is currently in Level 4 moving to Level 3, albeit with some possible modifications. At that stage, we will begin to re-open the economy and society in the more substantial way that we are all so longing for.

“It is important to stress, of course, that all of this depends on us continuing to suppress the virus now — and continuing to accept some trade-offs for a period, for example on international travel. But if we do so, I am optimistic that we can make good progress in returning more normality to our lives and the economy.”

Sally Pattle of Far From the Madding Crowd in Linlithgow said she was “frustrated, disappointed and angry” after Sturgeon's announcement.

She said: “I am unclear about whether we’ll be classed as essential going forward and therefore allowed to reopen on 5th April. That would of course be fantastic, though without any other shops or services being allowed to reopen for three weeks after that on our high street, it will be bittersweet.

“We’ll have to wait and see what further information is released about the announcement and who knows if that will be done quickly, or if we’ll have to wait until mid-March for things to become clearer - the First Minister certainly did not give us the detail we had hoped for in her statement.

“As always, we quite understand the need for people to feel safe, but this is a pretty tough blow to take, especially as the implication was that even when we do reach the end of April, we’ll be returning to the tier system that was in place before Christmas, and that was just another layer of stress and regulations added on to daily life. I do know I’ll be trying to scale back my Easter books order.”

The Mainstreet Trading Company's Rosamund de la Hey agreed it was a “rather vague” announcement and has even put together a Roadmap to Nowhere gift box for customers stuck at home, featuring a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle and a bottle of gin.

She said: “I can’t see anything that suggests bookshops will be included in a 5th April reopening, but given we were given a specific exemption as regards click and collect, we can only hope. My guess would be the ‘some elements of essential retail’ might include garden centres first. And if, as seems more likely, we don’t reopen until 26th April, it will be very frustrating, especially given our low levels of infection in the Borders.”

Jim Taylor, of Edinburgh's Lighthouse Bookshop, said he assumed from the announcement bookshops would have to operate in the same way as they do now until at least 26th April, though he was hoping for confirmation on details by the Booksellers Association.

He said: “We're obviously keen to have browsers back in the store, but never at the risk of public health. As before, we welcome extended restrictions as they seem to be the only way to effectively control viral spread, at least until vaccinations are sufficiently widespread, and this will obviously be to the benefit of the bookselling trade in the long term.”

Olivia Kekewich, assistant manager of the Edinburgh Bookshop, said she was also waiting for more clarification. She added: “We're delighted there's a plan and were very grateful to be deemed essential for click and collect - it's certainly been a blessing during lockdown.”