The British Independent Retailers Association (Bira), has called on the Government to make shops selling baby goods ‘essential’, adding its influential voice to the ongoing campaign which has been gathering pace since lockdown was announced, on Monday 4 January.
At the moment, retailers selling predominantly baby goods are currently deemed to be ‘non-essential’ in England, and as such are required to remain closed – at least physically – for the duration of the current national lockdown.
Nursery suppliers, distributors, retailers and consumers are coming together to point out that it is currently against the law for a newborn to leave hospital without a car seat, which should ideally be sold in person to ensure correct fitting – a fact recognised in Wales, Italy and Germany, which all list baby equipment stores as ‘essential’.
Bira is now backing a campaign set up by one of its members, who runs a baby equipment store. The member has launched a governement petition to have the guidance changed, outlining that ‘nursery stores sell life-saving and legally required items such as car seats’.
“There seems to be an unfortunate paradox in the guidelines for essential shops where an off-licence is seen as more important than a shop providing essential products for parents and babies,” said Andrew Goodacre, Bira’s ceo.
“Does this really represent our values in society at the moment? Scotland and Wales have addressed this and we are calling on the English Government to add baby equipment shops to the ‘essential’ list. We need to get our priorities right for once.”
JoJo Maman Bebe’s founder Laura Tennison also called for nursery retailers to be listed as essential stores during the second national lockdown in November last year.
