Retail bosses are braced for a surge in demand if the Government allows high streets to reopen on December 3.
Crowds flocking to stores in Wales since they reopened on November 9 have almost doubled sales in some locations compared with the same period last year, sources told The Mail on Sunday.
It raises the prospect of havoc in English high streets – where shops deemed non-essential will have been closed twice as long as in Wales – and a struggle to comply with social distancing rules.
Chaos: Crowds of shoppers in Wales raises the prospect of havoc on English high streets when lockdown lifts
A retail director at one major group said: ‘Wales was easier because their lockdown was only two weeks long. In England, the shops will have been closed for a month and we’ll only have three weeks until Christmas.’
Another boss said: ‘By then, we’ll be on the wrong side of Black Friday and there will be another load of products to clear that potentially no one wants – not without more heavy discounts. It’s a bit of a disaster – as if this year wasn’t already bad enough.’
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