You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
Booksellers in Scotland have expressed confusion and upset over not being able to reopen until late April, after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced her restriction easing plan on Tuesday (16th March).
Scottish bookshops will not be be able to open until 26th April, in tandem with the reopening of all "non-essential" retail, including gyms, shops, cafes, pubs and restaurants, which will be allowed to serve people indoors until 8 p.m. By contrast, hairdressers and garden centres will be opening on 5th April.
In England, bookshops will be reopening on 12th April.
Rosamund De la Hey, owner of The Mainstreet Books and Trading Company in St Boswells, said she and her staff were "still reeling from the news".
"The Scottish government made bookshops an exception to allow click and collect from 26th December, so we had been hoping that we’d be allowed to reopen along with garden centres on 5th April," she said. "It’s been a very long three months already, so to wait an additional two weeks beyond the rest of the UK, is quite devastating. It’s also hard to understand the logic, given the close contact required for hairdressers and the fact that places of worship are allowed 50 people to meet indoors."
Sally Pattle, manager of Far From The Madding Crowd in Linlithgow, said the easing of restrictions was later than expected, and that booksellers would suffer from missing trading during the Easter break. "I’m pretty confused actually," she told The Bookseller. "We’ve been classed as essential since January, along with garden centres and clothing stores, which has enabled us to offer click and collect during the long intervening months. I have no idea why we’re now being classed as non-essential again, and I’m pretty upset that we will completely miss the retail opportunities the Easter holidays will bring, unlike shops in England which at least get the second week of the holidays. Of course, there is scant information available - just a three-page document on the Scottish government website. This, despite the fact that we’ve been waiting for three weeks for this supposed roadmap to freedom.
"Sadly, it’s what we’ve come to expect from the current Scottish government, so like we’ve been doing for the past year, we’ll adapt and comply."
Lockdown measures will begin to lift in Scotland later this month, with communal worship of up to 50 people resuming indoors from 26th March. Travel restrictions in and out of Scotland will also end from 26th April, but international travel will not be permitted before 17th May. Sturgeon aims to have the lowest level of restrictions across Scotland by the end of June, which involve social distancing rules remaining, along with table service only in pubs and cafes. Hairdressers, and click and collect services will be allowed to start operating again earlier, from 5th April, and schools will open after the Easter holiday. From 17th May, up to four people from two households will be permitted to socialise indoors in a private home or public space. Late June would be the earliest date at which a staggered return of some staff to offices could be seen.
Sturgeon warned that the easing of restrictions is subject to the "continued suppression" of the virus.
Despite the frustration over a delayed opening, booksellers are keen to open to the public once more. Blackwells said: "We’re so glad to be reopening once again to provide our beloved customers with that very special physical bookshop experience where booksellers, who have been aching to return for months, will once again be able to provide friendly help and advice, and share their immense love of books. It will be a joy to once again talk to all those customers whom we have missed so much, having last seen them in the bookshop at Christmas."