Over half of the stores at the capital’s leading fashion and lifestyle outlet centre, London Designer Outlet, will reopen on 15th June, in keeping with the Government’s lifting of coronavirus lockdown restrictions. The largely outdoor shopping destination has taken extensive measures to ensure staff and customers feel safe.
Guests will have the added benefit of their first three hours of parking free of charge in both the Red and Yellow Car Parks on site. DropIt, the popular, app-based, store-to-door delivery service that allows hand-free shopping and deliveries, often on the same day, will be completely free of charge to anywhere in mainland UK from 22nd June until the end of July. This will make shopping more accessible for those arriving by foot or bike, and make navigating the shops much easier.
Nine hand sanitiser stations have been set up throughout the uncovered shopping destination and the surrounding Wembley Park area to help maintain high hygiene standards. Intensified cleaning routines will be in place during opening hours as well as deep night-time cleaning. Clear signage around the centre and wider Wembley Park area will instruct visitors on how best to navigate the space, to encourage social distancing. These include dedicated entrances and exits, one-way staircases to avoiding people passing on the stairs plus guidelines on using lifts and seating. Additional Guest Services staff will be on hand in “Here to Help” t-shirts and queue lengths outside stores will be limited to avoid any overcrowding. Click here to find out more about new measures put in place.
With up to 70 per cent savings, activewear brands Nike, Adidas, Puma, New Balance, Björn Borg and Skechers will all re-open on 15th June. Fashion labels Levi’s, Gap, Kurt Geiger, Lee & Wrangler and Tommy Hilfiger Kids will also open on the 15th June, alongside lifestyle and beauty brands Holland & Barrett, Zwilling J. A. Henckels and Beauty Outlet. The many health and safety initiatives will be scalable to embrace further shop openings over the coming weeks, and when restaurants, bars and coffee shops open.
Sue Shepherd, General Manager for London Designer Outlet, said: “We are taking every precaution to ensure our guests and everyone who works here feels prepared and safe. We’ve worked hard to keep within all the Government guidelines, while adding plenty of our own local initiatives. London Designer Outlet benefits from being an open air shopping environment, and many of our brands are global, such as Nike, Levi’s and Tommy Hilfiger Kids, so they have been able to draw upon their experiences of reopening on Continental Europe and elsewhere.”
With increased pressure on food banks in the Brent area due to the impact of the coronavirus, London Designer Outlet has committed to raising £5,000 for local food bank Sufra. The open air outlet shopping destination will be selling specially designed tote bags from 29th June through its Guest Services for £2 per bag, with all proceeds going towards the charity to support families suffering food poverty.
London Designer Outlet will reduce its opening hours to 10am - 5pm, to decrease the contact hours for employees and avoid peak travel times. Additionally, most London Designer Outlet stores will only accept contactless or card payments. All stores have calculated a safe capacity and will limit the number of people in store at any given time.
Further shops and restaurants in and around London Designer Outlet will reopen later in the summer. For more information visit their website.