John Lewis date for reopening
The John Lewis Partnership has confirmed its Glasgow and Edinburgh stores will reopen on Monday 13th July.
The date is in line with the plans for Scotland to move into Phase 3 of the route out of lockdown announced by the First Minister last week.
Its flagship Oxford Street department store in London will open later in the week, on July 16, as John Lewis said the size of the shop meant it needed extra time to finalise plans.
The latest raft of reopenings will take the total for the group so far to 32 since lockdown restrictions have eased for non-essential shops, with 18 remaining closed.
John Lewis said it will open more of its shops later in the summer, although insiders have warned previously it is "highly unlikely'' all 50 will ever reopen again.
The group said it was sticking to its "safe, not fast'' approach.
Berangere Michel, executive director for customer service at the John Lewis Partnership, added: "We are learning as we go and tweaking our approach to give our customers and partners the best possible experience.
"Feedback from customers is that they really enjoy being able to test and try out products such as tablets, mattresses and shoes, all in a safe environment, as well as asking our expert partners for advice.''
John Lewis has put in place a number of social distancing measures, including cutting the number of entrances and exits, capping customers allowed in each store, protective screens at checkouts as well as new drop boxes for returned goods to be quarantined for 48 hours.
It recently said some of the stores will increase the number of customers allowed in each site at any one time after bosses found that social distancing was possible with greater crowds in bigger stores.
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