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The Week In Retail Issue 12
EDITOR’S COMMENT
COPS AND ROBBERS: THE FACE MASK CONUNDRUM
Ah, the humble face mask. The classic identitydisguising apparel of choice of vagabonds, thieves and other assorted rapscallions – and now the Scottish Government is forcing everyone in a shop to wear one from Friday.
Unsurprisingly, there has been quite a bit of debate among retailers since Nicola Sturgeon first made that announcement last week, not least because the guidance issued was typically woolly. Did staff have to wear them too, or was it just customers? And who was to police it in-store?
This is just the latest in a long line of examples where the Scottish Government has legislated on issues relating to the local retailing sector without having anything even approaching a decent understanding of the consequences of their decisions. Anyway, despite warnings to her that mandatory face masks were practically an open invitation to the nation’s less morally upright citizens to come and steal from shops, the First Minister decided to plough on.
It’s a complex issue, of course. We all want to prevent the spread of Covid-19 but a little consultation with the sector wouldn’t have hurt, or taken too much time, would it?
Thankfully, SGF swung into action and, thanks to the Batphone that Pete Cheema apparently has connected to Sturgeon’s office, quickly got a lot of the issues clarified. You can read those clarifications in this issue.
The two key learnings are that, yes, staff do have to wear masks (unless behind screens and in some other exceptional cases) and no, retailers will not be responsible for policing it and will not be expected to refuse entry to customers who refuse to wear face coverings.
The massive concern remains that, come Friday, theft will rocket and CCTV imagery won’t be an awful lot of good to you. It might be worthwhile being a little bit extra vigilant in the days ahead unless you want to see months of great sales undone by weeks of pilfering.
