Welsh bookshops to reopen today

Bookshops in Wales will be able to reopen again from today (Monday 22nd June) following months of lockdown.

Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford announced on Friday that non-essential retailers would be able to return to business so long as appropriate social distancing measures were in place.

“Given the progress we have made, we are able to take some additional cautious steps to further unlock our society and economy,” he said. “This includes more retailers being able reopen their businesses, as long as they take measures to minimise the risk to their staff and to the customers who visit their stores.”

Mel Griffin, who runs Griffin Books in Penarth, welcomed the news but said the shop would not reopen until 1st July as they had already planned online events to mark Independent Bookshop Week.

Griffin explained: “That will give us the time to ensure we are fully prepared in terms of signage, a one way system, hand sanitising stations, PPE for staff and other hygiene measures before welcoming our lovely customers back to the shop! We can't wait to see them and to be able to help them choose books in person once again.

“Overall we had a good lockdown period, however, with a healthy flow of online orders and enquiries, enabling us to continue supplying books to customers both locally and beyond. We envisage this continuing even after the shop reopens. We also ran a programme of online events using Zoom and other platforms, including weekly Meet the Author events, informal 'book chat' sessions, our three regular book clubs and twice-weekly 'storytime' for children. These have all proved very popular and again, we plan to continue them for the foreseeable future.”

The Books Council of Wales said in a statement: “As always, the well-being of staff and customers must come first and we have been working with booksellers as they prepare to reopen safely in line with Covid-19 guidance. Not all shops may choose to open their doors immediately and others will revise their opening hours to the public. Whilst welcome, today’s announcement is another step on the long journey towards a new normality and our role as a Council is to support our sector throughout.

This is an incredibly challenging time for us all and over the last few months we have seen bookshops across Wales finding imaginative ways, in difficult circumstances, to continue to offer a personalised service to their customers. Many have been organising special online events, as well as selling over the internet or by telephone and sending parcels of books by post or delivering locally.”

It added: “On the eve of Independent Bookshop Week, this is an opportunity for us all to show our support for bookshops and celebrate their important contribution to our economy and our communities.”

The announcement came after Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said shops could reopen from 29th June.

In England, stores opened their doors again on 15th June, while Ireland's raised the shutters a week earlier.