Shopping centres urge customers not to stay away

As supermarkets become overrun due to coronavirus fears, shopping centres have been hit with a sharp downturn. Now major retailers are trying to reassure customers and say they have measures in place to keep their stores safe.

Shopping centres and major retailers are reaching out to their customers to reassure them their stores are safe as they implement new strategies to ward off the spread of the coronavirus.

Myer has cancelled skin-to-skin beauty service and intimate apparel and suit fittings to reduce direct human contact.

While David Jones has suspended all in-store beauty room treatments and on-counter services until further notice for the safety and protection of customers and team members.

Australian Retailers Association executive director Russell Zimmerman. Picture: AAP

“At present we are taking extra steps to ensure our stores are clean, hygienic environments for everyone. These measures include increasing the frequency of cleaning and sanitisation in all our stores, including high-touch areas such as handrails and counters, and providing complimentary hand sanitiser in store,” a David Jones spokesman says.

“We are also ensuring our team is supported with clear health and hygiene protocols in store, as well as providing the information and support all team members need to stay at home if they are unwell for any reason.”

While supermarkets are seeing unprecedented demand, shopping centres are experiencing a sharp downturn in customers.

Australian Retail Association executive director Russell Zimmerman says 72 per cent of retailers surveyed last week reported their business has already been negatively impacted by the virus.

“We’ve had retailers, particularly in the clothing and footwear area down 20-25 per cent,” he says.

Consumer traffic and behaviour analysis company Kepler’s most recent survey reveals foot traffic is down.

“There is less traffic in the centres, but the lower number of centre visitors are also visiting less stores during their centre visits. They know which stores they want to attend and there is far less ‘browsing’ occurring than before,” the report says.

Several stores at Chadstone were shut on Tuesday.

Chadstone was a ’ghost town’.

A spokesman for Chadstone says it’s essentially business as usual for Australia’s largest shopping centre.

“Our centres continue to trade as normal. The federal government has made it clear shopping centres continue to provide an essential service to our community,” he says.

“We know our centres play an important role in providing access to essential products and services for our community which is why we are continuing to trade as normal.”

Esports and video gaming entertainment venue Fortress Melbourne at Emporium, which officially opened on Friday, announced it will shut from Wednesday due to the virus.

“In the current climate, we believe this is the socially responsible action to take to protect the health of our team and patrons. While we have implemented several social distancing strategies and reinforced our cleaning efforts and hygiene protocols, the state of the global situation goes directly against our mission to bring live social gameplay to Australia,” a spokesman says.

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