Hammerson to reopen England locations on 15 June
Hammerson is reopening its shopping locations from 15 June, with more than 85% of its portfolio to restart trading by the middle of the month.
Of Hammerson’s eight retail parks, seven have been open for essential retail during the lockdown period. All but one of the parks will fully reopen on 15 June.
Across the premium outlets portfolio, nine of the 11 VIA Outlets schemes have been trading, after the first of these reopened in April. Three VIA Outlets schemes have remained open throughout.
Hammerson is reopening its shopping locations from 15 June, with more than 85% of its portfolio to restart trading by the middle of the month.
Of Hammerson’s eight retail parks, seven have been open for essential retail during the lockdown period. All but one of the parks will fully reopen on 15 June.
Across the premium outlets portfolio, nine of the 11 VIA Outlets schemes have been trading, after the first of these reopened in April. Three VIA Outlets schemes have remained open throughout.
Five of Hammerson’s nine European Value Retail Villages are currently trading, with Bicester Village (pictured) expected to also reopen on 15 June. All Value Retail and VIA Outlets properties are expected to be open by the middle of this month.
Hammerson’s flagship locations in Scotland remain closed, with the exception of essential stores. In Ireland, there will be a phased re-opening of stores, beginning with small retail outlets. By the end of June around 30% of Dundrum is expected to be open, with 40% and 20% at Swords and Illac respectively.
See also: What physical retail will look like for the foreseeable future
These will follow four reopenings in France last month, as well as two reopenings in Paris tomorrow.
The landlord has appointed independent inspection organisation Bureau Veritas to analyse and approve its reopening plans.
Its measures include one-way systems, signage, enhanced communication to visitors through social media, digital in-mall displays and tannoy announcements, heightened cleaning processes, live footfall monitoring, and queuing outside of locations to manage capacity.
All customer-facing staff will wear protective clothing, and hand sanitiser stations will be installed. Customers will be encouraged to use contactless payment with retailers for transactions.
Mark Bourgeois, UK and Ireland managing director, said: “It has been a really challenging time for everyone, and we are hugely grateful to the key workers and our centre colleagues that have done so much for us over the past few months.
“We have developed a comprehensive set of measures to keep people safe and we have technology in place to allow us to monitor visitor numbers, to ensure there are never too many people in our spaces at any one time.
“What is clear from our re-opening experience in France and across the premium outlets portfolio is that consumers are adjusting to how to shop in this new environment. Sales levels at these destinations have been encouraging to date, although it is still very early days. We are looking forward to re-opening and welcoming back our customers in the coming months.”
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