Shoppers 'excited' to return to Angel with lockdown easing

Laura Macdonald, 60, floor manager at Haygen, a fashion, jewellery and gift store in Camden Passage, told the Gazette: “It is so good to have customers back. Really nice to just have the door open so people can walk in.

“We have done online and click and collect through lockdown, but it is not the same as actually seeing people and being able to interact with them.”

Customers look at clothes outside a shop in Angel (Image: Xindi Wei)

The reopening of clothing stores and beauty salons from April 12 across England is part of the four-step roadmap to ease Covid-19 restrictions.

Chanel Dickson, 28, manager at Angelica Retreat, a beauty spa in Islington High Street, said the shop is fully booked the whole week.

"We have had to have a limit on how many people we can have in, but it was very busy this morning," she said.

"We have had a few regulars and it was nice to catch up with them. There were in such good moods.

“We love our jobs, and it is sad that we have had to close for four months, but we have managed to come back from it. We are lucky that we have managed to stay open."

Many people were seen shopping and queuing outside stores yesterday (April 12).

Shopper Ada Chen, 23, told the Gazette she is planning to do a lot of shopping inside the Business Design Centre.

“It feels risky to me to enter stores since the pandemic is not completely over, but I’m so excited to finally shop in stores again," she said.

A long queue was seen outside Angel Cutting Bar, despite having five working stations and eight hairdressers working.

One 17-year-old customer, Matthew, said: “My parents cut my hair in lockdown about two months ago, but it feels more comfortable getting a haircut by a professional.”

Luca Jones, owner of Kitch Hair in Charlton Place, said they are “fully booked for this week and next week as well”.

“It is good to have normality and nice to be working again to be honest," he said.