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COVID-19 UPDATE
UK GOVERNMENT OBJECT TO NORRIS BILL
IN THE LATEST BLOW FOR RETAILERS, THE UK GOVERNMENT HASOBJECTED TO A NEW LAW TO PROTECT SHOP WORKERS FROMASSAULT.
The local retailing industry has received another blow in its campaign to secure more support for shop workers as the UK Government objected to a Bill to protect shop workers from violent attacks.
Promoted by Alex Norris MP (Labour/Co-op, Nottingham North), the Assaults on Retail Workers (Offences) Bill was timetabled for its second reading in the House of Commons on Friday, but the Government objected to it progressing and it is now delayed until Friday 30 October.
Last week 23 British retailers and the sector’s leading industry bodies wrote to the Prime Minister asking him to provide effective legal protection for shop workers in the face of rising levels of abuse and violence and in support of Alex Norris’ Private Members Bill.
MAYOR CALLS FOR 9PM ALCOHOL SALES CURFEW
THE MAYOR OF GREATER MANCHESTER HAS CALLED FOR A 9PMCURFEW ON ALCOHOL SALES IN THE OFF-TRADE TO PREVENT SALESSPIKES AFTER PUBS CLOSE AND TO MINIMISE SOCIAL DISTANCINGISSUES.
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has issued a call for a 9pm curfew on sales of alcohol in retail as a way of preventing spikes in sales in stores after pubs and restaurants close at 10pm under the latest lockdown rules. The move would also prevent a “flood of people” to city centres rushing to off-licences.
Burnham is calling for an urgent review of the 10pm hospitality curfew on pubs, bars and restaurants. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I received reports that the supermarkets were absolutely packed out to the rafters with people gathering. I think there needs to be an urgent review of the emerging evidence from police forces across the country.
“My gut feeling is that this curfew is doing more harm than good. It creates an incentive for people to gather in the street or more probably to gather in the home. That is the opposite of what our local restrictions here are trying to do. I don’t think this has been fully thought through.”
£3.8BN COVID BOOST FOR CONVENIENCE
The latest UK Convenience Market Report from Lumina Intelligence claims that the convenience retail market will grow by £3.8bn in 2020 due to the impact of coronavirus, representing a hike of 9.2%.
The Report predicts that all convenience channels will grow in 2020 but cooperatives, symbol groups and unaffiliated independents are set to outperform the total market, with forecasted growth rates of 11%, 10.9% and 9.9%, respectively.
It also forecasts that the UK convenience retail market will reach a value of £46bn by 2023.
WAITROSE FORECASTS ANOTHER BAKING BOOM
Waitrose is predicting its biggest ever surge in baking ingredient sales, thanks to the lockdown and the latest series of the Great British Bake Off.
The retailer experienced strong sales growth during lockdown and is now preparing for another baking boom this autumn.
The company expects breads, cookies and brownies to be amongst the most popular bakes of 2020 with bread mix sales already up 103% compared to last year, while sales of cooking chocolate and Waitrose Dark Chocolate Chips have risen by 55% and 274% respectively.
FULL- ELECTRIC TRUCKS
Start-up business Drinks Cubed, which is less than a year old, has invested in a multimillion-pound deal to acquire its own fleet of zero CO2 emissions heavy goods vehicles by Volta Trucks. The new Volta Zero is the world’s first purpose-built full-electric 16-tonne commercial vehicle designed specifically for inner-city parcel and freight distribution. The ethical drinks brand donated a new truck full of approximately 15,000 drinks to The Felix Project which helps redistribute food and drinks to the disadvantaged across London.
CONFIDENCE UP
Consumer confidence inthe UK has edged up inSeptember despite the risein Covid-19 restrictions,according to the latest datafrom GfK’s long-runningConsumer Confidence Index.
UK TALKS
Scotland’s First Minister NicolaSturgeon has written to PrimeMinister Boris Johnson callingfor urgent four nation talks tocontinue to drive coronavirustransmission to the lowestpossible level.
DON’T PANIC
Major supermarkets includingTesco and Morrisons havebegun introducing buying limitsper person on basic productslike flour, dried pasta, toilet roll,baby wipes and anti-bacterialwipes in an attempt to preventbulk panic buying.
LOCKDOWN THREAT
An October ‘circuit breaker’second lockdown will turnthe lights out permanently onan extra 5,000 stores, warnshome delivery ParcelHero.20,000 stores are alreadyexpected to fail this year.
