Face masks and shopping.

As a shop fittings supplier to the bricks and mortar retail market Dymond Engineering has a keen interest in our high streets and malls remaining full, profitable, and of course safe.

There have been mixed reactions to the news that face masks are mandatory again in shops and shopping centres.  Masks make some of us feel safer, others repressed and some even fear wearing masks. In parts of England there are mask wearing enforcement teams, who do what you would think they might do! And some shops are enforcing their own rules.

According to the BBC News, the supermarkets have said the following:

• Sainsbury’s will have “greeters and security guards at the front of our supermarkets” to remind people to wear masks
• Morrisons staff will check if customers have face coverings, and will hand out masks to those that need them
• Asda will also hand out masks to customers without them
• Iceland staff won’t challenge customers over masks to avoid confrontation
• Co-Op staff won’t refuse to serve customers who aren’t wearing masks
• The BBC understands Tesco, Aldi and Lidl also don’t intend to challenge unmasked customers

A friend of mine who has been wearing masks everywhere since March 2020 also wears glasses – so she has spent much of the last 18 months in fog! She has bumped into people, bumped into shop displays (some of them ours) and almost bumped into cars!

If masks are to become a long-term item of haute couture, I think we need to be much better at handling them – so here are few hot tips for mask wearing from us to you!

• Get a mask that fits your face well and is comfortable
• Keep both your nose and mouth covered with your mask
• If you wear glasses use a demister before you leave the house
• Keep a clean cloth handy in the car to clear your specs before you drive off!
• Dispose of masks in the appropriate bins and CUT the ear hooks so they don’t trap on wildlife
• Lastly – treat your mask like your underwear – keep them clean, don’t fiddle with them in public and don’t lend them to other people!