"Allow carpet stores to re-open" says Foundation
Website Editor • April 20, 2020
The Carpet Foundation has made a special plea to Government to “look positively” on independent flooring retailers and carpet manufacturers when considering plans to unwind the UK lockdown.
In a strongly worded open letter to ministers on April 20, the Foundation says: “By not allowing smaller independent shops to open up, you would not just be putting a handbrake on the industry – you would actually be actually stopping it and bleeding in dry to the point of extinction.”
The Foundation points out that retail carpet sales are circa £2 billion and describes flooring stores as a “beacon of hope” in the retail landscape and the UK carpet manufacturing industry as a “world-leader”.
The letter is signed by Carpet Foundation chairman John Duncan and the senior management team and gives a number of specific reasons why independent carpet retailers should be re-opened as soon as possible. Social distancing should not be a problem, they say, as stores do not have many customers inside at any one time and visits to shops could be made by appointment. Fittings can be completed easily with effective social distancing.
“We are not a sexy industry but we do play a vital role in manufacturing, and we tend to be, certainly on the production and supply side, Northern and Midlands-based as opposed to Southern,” adds the letter.
The Government extended the lockdown for a further three weeks on April 16 and has avoided making any predictions about how the restrictions will be eased in various sectors of the economy.
Several other European countries have put small retail outlets among the first businesses to be allowed to be re-opened. In Austria, small shops (less than 400m²) are planned re-opened on April 14, with larger stores to follow on May 1. In Germany, stores below 800m² re-opened on April 20.
In a strongly worded open letter to ministers on April 20, the Foundation says: “By not allowing smaller independent shops to open up, you would not just be putting a handbrake on the industry – you would actually be actually stopping it and bleeding in dry to the point of extinction.”
The Foundation points out that retail carpet sales are circa £2 billion and describes flooring stores as a “beacon of hope” in the retail landscape and the UK carpet manufacturing industry as a “world-leader”.
The letter is signed by Carpet Foundation chairman John Duncan and the senior management team and gives a number of specific reasons why independent carpet retailers should be re-opened as soon as possible. Social distancing should not be a problem, they say, as stores do not have many customers inside at any one time and visits to shops could be made by appointment. Fittings can be completed easily with effective social distancing.
The Foundation also comments on the sense of pent-up demand that was indicated by the post-election lift in carpet sales of 9% in January as evidence that the sector needs to be back in business and adds that “spending so much time at home recently is making people see things they would like to redecorate or replace – like carpet.”
"While it is excellent to hear that the government wants manufacturing to continue, carpet manufacturers cannot continue stockpiling carpet, adding millions to their balance sheet, if they don't have a route to market to sell them,” says the Foundation.
“We are not a sexy industry but we do play a vital role in manufacturing, and we tend to be, certainly on the production and supply side, Northern and Midlands-based as opposed to Southern,” adds the letter.
The Government extended the lockdown for a further three weeks on April 16 and has avoided making any predictions about how the restrictions will be eased in various sectors of the economy.
Several other European countries have put small retail outlets among the first businesses to be allowed to be re-opened. In Austria, small shops (less than 400m²) are planned re-opened on April 14, with larger stores to follow on May 1. In Germany, stores below 800m² re-opened on April 20.
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