I tried my best, but shopping just isn’t enjoyable any more when I know the risk of coronavirus is still here

While very necessary, safety measures in shops serve as a stark reminder we are far from out of the woods when it comes to the virus, says James Moore

Customers wear masks as they shop at Primark in Oxford Street (AP)

Shopping is an activity I usually put on a level with cleaning the bathroom or doing the washing up. A chore, in other words, which is why I usually prefer to do it online.

That said, because I find myself writing a lot about retail at the moment, I’ve periodically donned a mask and set out to test the temperature of various retail centres in and around London.

Naturally I’ve included a couple of places I actually enjoy visiting to make this a less onerous task. They include a record store that boasts an impressive selection of new and interesting vinyl, and a pop culture emporium to check out the latest graphic novels and other paraphernalia.

Even with the migration of so much of the retail industry online, these two are places that ought to survive and thrive. They are tailor-made for browsing, for spending time perusing the racks and the shelves for the interesting and/or unusual that might be lurking there.

This is something you really can’t do online, and they are just about the only shops I would consider visiting for enjoyment. The trouble is, they’re not enjoyable any more.

I’m not blaming the shops here. Both had adopted safety measures; limiting opening hours and the number of people in store, asking them to distance, offering hand sanitiser. One was even giving out plastic gloves.

The staff were as friendly and helpful as ever and, for their sake, I made sure to exercise my plastic. But I still found it impossible to feel comfortable in either.

It might actually be because of safety measures. While very necessary, they do rather serve as a stark reminder of the fact that, when it comes to the coronavirus, we are far from out of the woods. That’s true even though the number of cases, and mercifully the number of deaths, have fallen sharply from the peak.

It may simply be the presence of other people that helped to make the experience nerve-wracking. Despite the removal of clutter – and I’ve found this with all shops – it wasn’t possible to maintain distancing at all times, particularly given that I use a wheelchair.

The imposition of a requirement to wear masks might help to some degree, which is why I’ve been advocating for them in my columns.

But I’m not sure even that will completely do away with the feeling of twitchiness and the desire to zip through as quickly as possible and get out.

The visit to any shop has gone from being a chore (with a couple of exceptions) to something more akin to a trip to the dentist (with no exceptions).

It’s for this reason that I fear the recovery of this important sector, which still employs an awful lot of people, and young people in particular, will be slower than hoped.

It might take the emergence of an effective vaccine to change that.

Yours,

James Moore

Chief business commentator