A momentous day.

There are significant queues outside Penneys this morning as the fashion retailer reopens its doors for the first time since March. All Irish stores have been closed for almost three months since the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak. Penneys has officially reopened some stores today (June 12) with new social distancing measures and health and safety procedures in place. The remaining stores operating in shopping centres will reopen on June 15. There were significant queues outside Penneys stores across the country this morning as 16 of the fashion retailers reopened to the public. Stores in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, and elsewhere opened at 10.30am to queues that snaked around buildings and down streets as customers eagerly awaited re-entry to the stores. Strict social distancing protocols have been put in place across all Penneys stores for the foreseeable future. These include:

• Limits on the number of customers allowed in store at any one time
• Clear signage and floor decals, as well as dedicated employees and additional security staff, to guide customers through the store in a way that limits contact with others
• Every second till will be closed to allow more space between customers and between employees.
• Temporary closure of fitting rooms, customer toilets and cafe and beauty concessions in stores

There will also be increased in-store cleaning measures and perspex screens at tills to protect staff and customers. Primark CEO Paul Marchant said last week that "nothing matters more" than the health and safety of Penneys staff and the stores customers. “We know that life for our customers is going to look different for a while," he said. "We want our stores to be safe and reassuring places to shop and work. "While it might take a little longer to get into our stores, once inside, customers will find all their favourite Penneys products and we have worked hard to make sure that clear signage and extra help will be there to guide them through the changes we have made to allow for social distancing. “We will adopt all government safety advice as a minimum in our stores and have benefited from our experience in the other markets in Europe where we have already opened successfully. As we open, we will continue to look at best practice across the retail sector and amend our measures appropriately." Images via Ian Boyle.