Metropol

I wonder if Tuesday is going to be the official lockdown quarantine day. Emails from both National Express and John Lewis have said their last full days of service will be on Monday which seems an odd day of the week to choose otherwise. At least announcing it for Tuesday allows a last office prep day on Monday for everyone to prepare.

Having said that it would also be unlikely that companies like National Express and John Lewis would find out the quarantine dates from the government and not have that information leak!

No, the transport companies have new temporary rules to work within, but still have to give authorities one working day notice of changes. If NX didn't get their scaling-back plans ready by late Thursday last week, the next effective date for changes would be Tues due to the working day's notice needed.

I suspect some companies were waiting for the government announcement last Friday about 80% wages being paid by government for companies to retain staff.

With John Lewis it's worth noting that they had been struggling prior to Covid-19 (low staff bonus and some store closures already planned). They presumably have seen in store sales drop in the past week and expect it to continue. The government announcement allows John Lewis to temporarily close their stores and have 80% of those staff salaries paid for by the government. Opening Monday probably allows staff who weren't present at the weekend to be updated at work about arrangements.

I suspect a few other shops may follow John Lewis in temporarily closing, especially any who were already having financial problems.

HMV, Timpson and Primark are closing after close of business tonight.

Sainsbury's have finally updated the POS and SmartShop to stop bulk buying which resulted in shelves being better stocked on Saturday.

Charlie Wells wrote: ↑Sun 22 Mar, 2020 16.34
I suspect a few other shops may follow John Lewis in temporarily closing, especially any who were already having financial problems.

Quite a few have already - Apple was an early one (though I wonder how much of that was due to their supply chain already being a bit low), as have Gap and Uniqlo, the latter of whom sent a particularly overwrought email about it.

IKEA and Primark also closing. Waterstones finally closing end of business tomorrow, which is pathetic, having been shamed all day at still being open.

Pete wrote: ↑Sun 22 Mar, 2020 17.50 IKEA and Primark also closing.

IKEA closed on Friday. Which was a bit inconvenient because I needed a cheapy table and office chair for working from home, and Amazon and Argos both had 10-day+ lead times. (I ended up borrowing them from work instead.)

McDonald's just announced they're closing all UK and Ireland restaurants by 7pm tomorrow.

https://www.mcdonalds.com/gws-newsroom/ ... _soon.html

No Drive Thru, Delivery or Takeaway services.

McDonalds are closing by 7pm tomorrow.

I went to the nearest 24 hour one with my fiancee last night at around 10pm after her shift, and it was already closed up with no signs of life. It is showing as unavailable today on Uber Eats as well.

Nandos closed too