Wigan's B&Q store has reopened

The B&Q store at Frith Street, near the Saddle Junction, was one of a further 61 stores from Wednesday April 22, after initially opening 14 branches last weekend.

The DIY stores closed on 25 March and since then customers have only been able to use home delivery and click and collect services to buy items.

The chain has confirmed that a range of social distancing measures will be in place in all of the reopened stores.

These include two metre floor markers, limiting the number of customers in store at any one time, and newly installed perspex screens at the tills.

A spokesperson for B&Q said: "As an essential retailer, we’re committed to providing the best possible service to support customers’ home improvement needs at this difficult time, while keeping customers and colleagues safe.

"Having watched other essential retailers support social distancing in their stores, we are now following their best practice and are re-opening some stores with strict social distancing measures in place.

The chain is limiting the number of customers in store at any one time, with customers typically queueing before entering stores.

All stores will also have a designated queuing area outside and these will have two metre markers in order to help remind everyone to respect each other’s personal space.

The stores will have two metre floor markers throughout the store and the chain has installed perspex screens at the checkouts.

Only products that you can shop and take away in-store on the day are available to customers.

Services such as kitchen and bathroom design, paint mixing, timber cutting and key cutting are not available for the time being.

B&Q are currently only accepting card and contactless payments.

The chain is continuing to offer their Click+Collect service at diy.com, but this may take several days for orders to be ready, and may be temporarily unavailable at busy times.

Customers can also place orders for contact-free home delivery for a limited range of products.

B&Q added: "In recognition of the importance of Trade customers being able to carry out repairs and maintenance for their customers, TradePoint is available at all re-opened stores and our Trade customers are also able to purchase products online at trade-point.co.uk.

"We’re urging all customers to follow the Government’s social distancing guidelines, to shop responsibly only for what is necessary and to be patient whilst we give them the best possible service in the safest possible way."

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