REGINA -- Clothing retailers say adjustments to restrictions on phase two businesses to allow for returns, exchanges and limited fitting room use make reopening on May 19 more realistic.
Trina Johnson, the owner of Trinos Menswear in east Regina, said the first round of restrictions initially announced with the rest of the Reopen Saskatchewan Plan made reopening her shop feel like an “impossibility.”
"We weren't supposed to let people touch things, try things on, nothing," Johnson told CTV News. "I was like 'how do I do this' and also not be able to exchange or return an item?"
"They take it home even to try it on, and it doesn’t fit and they need one size bigger – how do I do that and feel right in saying ‘sorry, you’re stuck with it’."
Luckily for Johnson and other clothing retailers, the province announced it would relax some of those restrictions late Friday afternoon.
The adjustments to the Reopen Saskatchewan Plan allow for exchanges and returns as well as the use of fitting rooms for customers, but both come with conditions.
Fitting rooms can only operate at 50 per cent capacity and returned items must be cleaned, disinfected and isolated in a separate bin for 72 hours.
"We still want to limit people touching everything and trying absolutely everything on just for fun, but if they need to try an article of clothing on, we can do that," Johnson said.
Some of the other changes to the plan include lessened restrictions for greenhouses and garden centres.
Instead of one customer for every 1,000 square feet of space it's now the same as other retailers with rules for one-way aisles and limits on the number of people who can be inside at once.
Klaus Link with The Plant Ranch says all needed precautions are already in place at their 10,000 square foot facility under both the original plan and the updated one, as they've been able to remain open through the pandemic.
"We have our aisles marked, they're trying to follow the directions. We try and keep everything clean and sanitized, the trays and the carts and everything else that moves through the place," Link said. "Unless it were to increase the numbers of people that we can have here at a single time, it’s not going to affect us very much at all.”
Second phase businesses like Trinos will be allowed to reopen to the public on May 19.
With the changes addressing many of her concerns, Johnson said it's a day she can look forward to, adding her gratitude for customers who have supported the shop online in the meantime.
"I miss people so much," Johnson said. "We'll respect the distant measures, we'll keep it clean here, we'll have hand sanitizer and we just can't wait to see everybody."
