Lush to reopen shops on Monday: here's what you need to know

The cosmetic retailer will open the doors of all but one of its stores after being closed for almost three months during the lockdown.

The chain has stores in Southampton's Westquay and Portsmouth. 

Opening dates for stores in Scotland, Wales and Ireland are still to be confirmed.

Lush said: “At the point of lockdown each individual Lush shop did all they could to pass their stock, especially the soap which had run out in supermarkets at that time, to charities and groups in their local communities. As a result, all shops will reopen with fresh stock that is only days old.”

Lush-co founder and managing director Mark Constantine said: “Even with considerable help from governments, local councils and landlords, so many businesses are not making it through. I am grateful to be here reopening our shops again and feel unbelievably lucky that we had the help.”

Alongside local government guidelines - such as observing social distancing rules, no hands-on demonstrations and having a safe queuing system to enter - safety measures for each Lush shop reopening in England will also include:

• Lower staffing levels to begin with. Lush will be providing face coverings for staff to use if they wish.
• A continuous cleaning rota.
• Customers will be invited to wash their hands as soon as they arrive in store with their own piece of soap peel.
• No product testers on display.
• Shops will have pre-filled sample pots of some of Lush’s most popular products, complete with a tamper proof seal.
• Till points will be 2m apart and be installed with recycled and recyclable perspex screens.
• Signage will be on display at the front of each shop to explain the new procedures to customers.

• Kiosk purchasing at the front door may be set up in a number of shops if they are more comfortable with this to begin with, avoiding the need for customers to enter the shop at all.
• Shops will also be supported through tech advances such as Lush Lens. Designed by Lush’s in-house tech R&D team, customers can download the Lush Labs app on android and iPhone and scan unpackaged products (over 50% of Lush’s range) in-store. The phone’s camera and Machine Learning are able to recognise products and give the customer detailed ingredient information, price and ‘how to use’ demonstrations through immersive videos via the app. The feature is available in 30 countries and 20 different languages.

Lush is asking all customers to pay by card and will not be taking cash at this time.

Bookings for The Lush Spa and Hair Lab bookings will remain suspended until further notice.