Shopping in the time of COVID-19

How we have managed to keep Berties Of Bay afloat during these strange times and the changes we’ve made to keep ourselves and our lovely customers safe while shopping.

It has been a most unsettling few months since closing our doors in March. After more than 3 months of working from our home office and exploring the world of YouTube and Instagram TV, we re-opened our store in Robin Hood’s Bay on 1 July. We are so grateful for our wonderful customers (affectionately nick-named ‘shipmates’) who have supported us by shopping online during lockdown and interacting with us via social media.

It is easy to forget how important a sense of humour is in times of difficulty, particularly when this pandemic has had such a profound impact on our way of life. This prompted us to display our tongue-in-cheek chalk messages outside the store. Our much-loved ‘Have a cough? Bugger off!’ message has managed to offend and make people laugh in equal measure and there will be plenty more in the coming weeks, so watch this space!

Along our journey to re-opening, we made the difficult decision to stop serving tea, coffee and cake to allow more room for our ever-expanding range of clothing and accessories and to ensure there was enough room for customers to browse safely while social distancing. Thankfully there are plenty more businesses in the village selling delicious hot drinks and cakes to fuel you in-between visiting us and the beach.

To keep our store and customers ship-shape there are certain COVID-19 secure steps that we now follow at Berties Of Bay: -

· Customers have to wear a face mask or covering

· Use the hand sanitiser located at the shop entrance

. Protective perspex screen installed at the till area

· Look around and not touch as we have to quarantine clothing for 48 hours

· A maximum of 6 customers allowed in our store at one time

· Follow the one-way system and 2-metre floor markers for social distancing

We have displayed these measures clearly using signs and posters in-store and kindly remind all customers who may have missed these when entering. It is important for us that you, our very valued customers feel welcome and safe when shopping with us.

A top tip to avoid any possible disappointment, is to take a look at our website and contact us before visiting, so that you know which garments we have in stock and to obtain sizing advice if there is a particular garment you are interested in purchasing.

We are open all year round from 11am, so we hope that if you haven’t managed to visit us yet, you will do so before the year is out, where you will be greeted with a smile under our masks and a good old fashioned chin-wag. However, if a trip to God’s own county is a stretch too far, then please have a look at our website/Instagram/Facebook/YouTube channel, where you can get your virtual Berties Of Bay fix and shop from the comfort of your home free from coverings.

Shopping in the time of COVID-19 is our new normal, so we are anchoring down together and making the best of it, until a newer (hopefully more like the old) normal returns.