Penneys to reopen stores from June 12th

As we enter the second phase of a gradual re-opening of society, Penneys have announced they will open stores ahead of the initial proposed schedule

The Irish retailer announced plans to reopen all of its stores in Ireland from 12th June, under Phase 2 of the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions.

Stores with street access will open next Friday and on 15th June its stores located in shopping centres will reopen.

In a statement, they said stores will open with measures in place to safeguard customers and employees, including limiting the number of customers in its stores to enable social distancing, as well as closing every second till to allow more space between customers and employees, while face masks and gloves will be made available to all employees.

“Employee and customer safety is the highest priority in our preparations for re-opening,” they said. They added that stores in Europe had opened successfully using similar measures, explaining that safety for customers and workers was their “highest priority,”  even while the shopping experience would differ for the foreseeable.

“We know that life for our customers is going to look different for a while. We want our stores to be safe and reassuring places to shop and work.”

Phase 2 plus

On Friday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that this would be a “Phase 2 plus” and confirmed that there would be four phases instead of five, with Ireland’s economy nearly fully open by July 20th. He said that people should “stay local” rather than “stay home”.

Under the new guidelines, people will be allowed to travel 20km from home as well as anywhere within their own county, whichever is greater. You can also meet groups of up to 6 people indoors. Domestic travel restrictions will be lifted from June 29th.

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