Stalybridge out of Lockdown
It has been lovely to be able to open our doors once again as lockdown restrictions have started to lift. The weather has been kind as well as we have ben blessed with some lovely Spring days full of sunshine. As I was walking into the town earlier this week I could not help but notice how much nicer the town is looking as a whole. It is almost as if Stalybridge is starting to waken up after a lockdown that’s lasted a lot longer than the actual lockdown! The area is noticeably cleaner, the efforts of the various volunteer groups in the town who litter pick is starting to show. The beautiful planters in Armentieres Square are full of Spring flowers. There are people sat out in the square at the side of the canal drinking coffee. Melbourne Street has been busy with people walking into the town and visiting the shops. This week there have been canal boats on the canal moored up, which has been wonderful to see. When I see all these little signs, it really does give me hope that our lovely little town could really become a much more used and valued asset by people.
As we opened our door we were all feeling a little apprehensive about what to expect, would we be rushed off our feet? would people be frightened to come back to the shops because of Covid? There really was such a lot of second guessing going on. Turns out we didn’t need to worry as we have had a lovely first couple of weeks back open. It has been great to meet people who we have only ever been interacting with on social media for the last year, as well as seeing some familiar faces. Feedback about how safe people are finding shopping with us has been positive as well. We have made some changes to the layout in store as we wanted to make your visit to our shop really special. We have been thinking that we probably wont be returning to use the current exit door on Armentieres Square as a entrance door again for security issues. We have also welcome a new member of staff to the team, Lucy. Lucy will be mainly working at weekends and will be learning the ropes. We have so many exciting things planned and I think the overall feeling from the last two weeks has been one of hope. Thank you all for your support and custom, and we hope that we might see you soon in the shop 🙂