As government advice on limiting the spread of Coronavirus becomes more stringent, several High Street retailers have announced temporary closures of their stores.

The growing list now includes Debenhams, John Lewis, Selfridges, H&M Group, the Inditex Group, the Arcadia Group, the Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group, IKEA, New Look, River Island, Gap, Reiss, The Body Shop, HMV, Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Michael Kors, Oasis, Lego, Abercrombie & Fitch, Monsoon, Liberty London, Primark, Clarks, TK Maxx, Apple, Calvin Klein, Sweaty Betty and Boden.

It’s unclear how many of them will be providing full pay for staff during the closures, although the government announced late last week that it would cover up to 80 per cent of wages for workers across all industries whose jobs have been affected by the pandemic.

On Friday, prime minister Boris Johnson ordered pubs, restaurants, leisure centres, and gyms to close. As yet, retailers have not been ordered to close, although it is expected this guidance will come in due course, in line with events in other countries seriously affected by the virus.

Like many others, Debenhams stated that “the safety and wellbeing of our colleagues and customers has been of paramount importance” and while it hopes to reopen as soon as is practically and safely possible, “customers will continue to be able to shop with us online”.

According to Drapers, the department store has also written to landlords with rent reduction requests.

Over the weekend, Waterstones was criticised for keeping stores open during the outbreak, as managing director James Daunt said it had led to “unprecedented demand” for books, with a 17 per cent increase in sales.

Yesterday, the book store chain said that it would close, with shop floor staff to be put on furlough, with a skeleton staff to handle deliveries.

“We do this with the support of the government when the alternative is to enact a wide redundancy,” read a note to staff. “No business can continue to pay its employees when its source of revenue disappears and we are very grateful that this is not necessary.”

Meanwhile, all 55 Kurt Geiger stores across the UK and Ireland shut, with chief executive Neil Clifford saying he would suspend his own salary until they re-open. He also promised that NHS workers would receive a 50 per cent discount for a year in all of its stores once they have reopened.

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