We Are Open!

To say that we were delighted to open the shops again on Monday 26^th April is so much of an understatement! It really is hard to put into words exactly how amazing it is to be welcoming customers back through our doors.

And it’s not just about our shops, the whole street has a buzz about it. Our neighbours across the street, Love Dove Studio, The Sweetie Jar and West Coast Home are all open as well and we’re all very much enjoying our fabulous new pavements and new paint jobs – the Square honestly looks brilliant.

Here we are with our plaques presented to us by MacLeod Construction Ltd, the names of our shops on the same stone as our fantastic new pavement

The run up to re-opening was hectic. All of our gift shop staff had been furloughed – so it was all hands on deck once we had the re-opening dates confirmed, to get the place looking ship shape (Literally – our summer season stock always takes on a nautical theme!) The girls returned one week before opening so that we could work on putting deliveries away and displays together.

Those of you on our mailing list or following us on social media will know that we received so much new stock, a lot of which was brand new product ranges, even with the doors closed. With the shops being closed for as long as they were, there was more than a little bit of a delivery back log - and we’re still unpacking boxes now! But that’s actually a really fun part of the job, because none of us (even Jilly) have seen any of the goodies inside before! Usually when we place orders, we either visit the suppliers or they come to us, however all our recent orders have been placed virtually – it’s a whole new way of working.

We are incredibly happy to say that the shops and stock rooms are now full, and we are trying hard to get as much of it online as we can!

All of our safety measures remain in place inside. Everyone, unless exempt, must wear a mask inside the shops and we ask that you sanitise your hands on arrival so that you’re then free to browse - safe in the knowledge that everyone else has sanitised their hands too. We have screens at the till between you and our staff members and we’re regularly sanitising all of our equipment and touch points such as the counters and door handles. We are also limiting the number of customers inside any one shop, and have directional arrows on the floor so that we can all maintain safe distancing.

The Square Peg Sandwich Bar team have kept calm and carried on throughout this lockdown, and are now very happy to be able to welcome customers into the takeaway rather than serving them from the doorway! They are still only able to have one customer in the shop at a time but waiting times can be reduced by phoning orders in in advance. There’s a full menu outside the shop so you can even call your order in from right outside!

Our first week of opening was a really busy one - it was great to see so many local customers as well as those visiting the area on holiday or passing through.

We decided that it was a week for celebrating and saying thank you to all of our amazing customers – so we offered a discount to anyone in store and online who spent over £25.00. We sent out discount codes with money off to everyone on our mailing list and all customers in the shops were given the same.

Our way of letting you all know how much your support means to us, we wouldn’t be here without you!

Watch this space for more updates of what we’re up to in the coming weeks and months. Now that we are back in business we’ll be hoping to write more wee blogs to show you what's new and exciting in the shops, throw a spotlight on some of our favourites, offer suggestions for seasonal gifting, and let you know what’s happening locally.

You can also follow us on Instagram, like us on Facebook, or sign up to our mailing list to see what we're up to. And if there’s ever anything we can help with then you can email us on info@thesquarepegonline.co.uk – we’re always happy to help!