Trust me an apology is the last thing I was expecting :joker:

I no longer work in retail but a few friends do and they said the same, it was meant to be essential shopping and the customers were in buying crap. Time to enforce this to stop the selfish people who refuse to comply.

Who is defining what is an essential item? Also, where is the science behind this? Not behind this move at all I'm afraid.

"Essential items" are totally subjective, especially if you're working from home/self-employed.

For example - I do freelance portrait commissions and have a few family and pet portrait deadlines coming up in the next few weeks in time for Christmas, so for me, essential items are pencils, paper, frames etc.

These items are deemed completely non-essential by the government and are (literally) being cordoned off in the shops. I understand that it's a way to stop browsing temptation and for people to just "get in and get out" as quickly as possible and I could order supplies online etc etc, but come on...

...yeah, it’s the lack of thought and also the lack of considerations in determining essential/non essential, LaLa...well there doesn’t appear to be any considerations, it just seems to be a ‘blanket’ thing, so absent from any considerations...for you, writing materials are your income and an income is an essential...?..there are some people with communication difficulties who would have a reliance on writing materials also...in her early times of Alzheimer’s, writing different things down as memory aids and communication forms etc was essential to my mum, I know these things can be purchased in other ways but not everyone is so comfortable purchasing online and doesn’t always have easy access to do so either...the obvious thing would be, in areas where ‘non essential’ retail are being closed down for a period, then the community is given consideration in what their needs may be and envelopes that in the essentials..children/baby clothes and warm bedding for instance being non essential...but alcohol being essential...?...I’m not suggesting that the alcohol not be ‘essential’, just that it seems like a very narrow window and judgement being made which doesn’t accommodate a community with their essentials at all....

Birthday cards non essential? Good luck to anyone celebrating over the next 17 days then

Moonpig will be busy

So instead of saving the high street these extreme measures will drive even more people online

The very real danger is that after this 2 weeks, the numbers wont have gone down at all (which i'm fully expecting to be the case) and that it will make the population more restriction averse. It could conceivably end up a massive backfire

[Lidl closed off all their 'non-essential' aisles in Porthmadog,
well before the 6pm deadline
with the ban set to last for the duration of the 17-day 'fire break' lockdown]

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/10...3483815906.jpg

...Toblerone...:laugh:...


...’..it’s not fair, Galaxy got to stay in their lane and we didn’t......’...

[Pallets of stock block access to
non essential goods at
the Sainsburys store in Crindau,
Newport at the start of the firebreak lockdown]

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/10...3483815948.jpg

A barrier was set up at a Tesco superstore in Swansea
today as supermarkets are told to stop selling non-essential goods
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/10...3495330203.jpg

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-measures.html

I'm still of the view that if supermarkets are open.
Then they should be selling their range of goods.

It is daft, when you are able to shop online.
I personally don't like to do that.
Have done so in part to save going out so much during this pandemic.
However I still prefer to go round a store too.

I can't see the point of letting customers in a supermarket then closing off most of it to them.

Defining what's essential is different things to different people.
From need or personal angles.

Just make it simple.
If you're in a supermarket shopping for food, then pick up other things.
What's the issue.
They have to go through the checkouts anyway.

I just think this is an extremely petty action by the Welsh Labour governing body and I'd hope no other Nation of the UK brought it in.

The full lockdown from March, didn't have this restriction and things were improved, even as people were getting plants and garden equipment all through.

I'd guess they'd have been not essential under this rule.

No, if the supermarket is open then leave it selling its range across the board.

For older people particularly, I know many who can't, don't and won't shop online.
It's actually essential they have the freedom to get what they want/ need in the way they wish to.

A supermarket is just that, a larger market where you can get almost anything, then leave it so.
If you're letting it open anyway.
That's my view anyway

if was a business that is categorised as non essential, the first thing i would do is stock at least something deemed essential and then open up

Let people buy what they want, something ‘essential’ in one persons life might not be essential for the other. These are really tough times mentally for people, and stopping someone from buying something that’s ‘non-essential’ (why does this even bring the risk up if someone buys furniture or plants for example instead of clothing?) could be just another detrimental thing to someone’s mental well being.

Everyone needs to take a step back and stop ruling this like we’re in North Korea or something. The virus is here to stay, life needs to adapt.

Computer products are blocked off... With the country working from home. What happens if your mouse breaks? What happens if you spill coffee on your keyboard at 9am? Yes you can order online but it'll be at least one day and possibly 2+ for delivery... Being able to quickly pop to Tesco and buy a cheap temporary replacement is "essential", no?

There is no exit strategy in place either so its quite possible the ‘17’ days could extend all in the name if ‘having as normal a Christmas’ as possible, Christmas will not be normal and time would be better spent educating people how to social distance in their day to day lives rather than offering false hope

Why do I feel sorry for that lil Toblerone?

No, wish we were like Asian countries, they can get numbers drastically down and we can't because we care too much about something silly as freedom or privacy

I do my food shopping online.
Never had any problems so far.

Supermarkets are heaving today..avoid.

Then do it, order online what's the problem? Since when did they sell professional grade artistry equipment at tesco anyway? Essential items means perishables and other essential items such as nappies and cleaning products.

Click and collect one with your smartphone?

Shoppers in Wales have criticised government measures which mean "non-essential items" have been put behind metal barriers or covered with plastic sheeting in supermarkets.

Photos on social media show products such as pillows and bedsheets under a plastic covering at a Tesco store, while a photo from a Morrisons supermarket shows children's clothes behind a cordon.

One social media user has pointed how baby clothes have been deemed to be non-essential in a Tesco supermarket in Cardiff, while vodka is still available on the shelves in the same store.

A photo from a Tesco store in Pengam Green shows products including cups and plates behind metal barriers too.

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavir...riers-12112887