Big shop washrooms
The pre-Christmas rush and Black Friday place huge pressure on shopping centres – especially their toilets. Stuart Hands, from Tork manufacturer Essity, looks at ways of ensuring that retail washrooms are up to the challenge of the 'Big Shop'.
Statistics tell us that retail centres are in decline as an increasing number of us prefer to carry out our shopping online. But it rarely feels that way when out and about at this time of year, fighting through the crowds in a bid to bag that last bargain before the Christmas festivities begin.
Black Friday – the last Friday in November – now marks the start of the pre-Christmas rush and shopping centres all over the nation remain full to bursting from that date until Christmas Eve. Retail managers will obviously be keen to cash in on the busiest few weeks of the shopping calendar as best they can, so they need to be able to maximise the amount of time their customers remain on the shop floor.
This is where washrooms can become a major sticking- point. Anyone spending more than a few hours at a retail centre – and potentially taking breaks for coffees and snacks while they are there – will require access to a washroom. But if the retail centre toilets are overcrowded and subject to long queues, valuable shopping time will be lost.
Badly-managed washrooms could also lead to messy, dirty and unhygienic conditions which will create a bad impression for customers. Shoppers with a previous bad experience of a particular retail centre’s toilets might deliberately cut short their visit to enable them to avoid having to use the washrooms, which will have a negative impact on the venue’s sales.
There’s another pressing reason why washrooms need to be cleaned and restocked regularly in high-traffic venues,
42 | RETAIL & DAYTIME CLEANING
particularly in winter. Poorly-serviced washrooms could all too easily facilitate the spread of infections and viruses which tend to be rife at this time of year.
Colds, flu and stomach bugs can all be transmitted by touching a surface that an infected person has previously touched. So, if a shopper leaves the retail centre’s washrooms without having washed and dried their hands – either because the queues for the facilities were too long or because the supply of soap or hand towels had run out – they will go on to touch other surfaces outside the washroom and risk infecting others.
Studies show that cold and flu viruses can linger on surfaces for 24 hours or more. And today’s growing trend for self-service tills with their shared touchscreens has potentially increased the risks of us picking up a bug in a retail centre.
Hand washing is a highly effective method of removing transient bacteria and viruses from the hands, but shoppers will only have the opportunity to practice good hand hygiene when visiting the washroom. Shopping centre chiefs should therefore ensure that their washrooms are up to scratch and that they provide a sufficient number of cubicles and wash basins to cater for all, plus a plentiful supply of soap and paper products. They should also ideally be welcoming places where customers are encouraged to take time out.
Spacious facilities with pleasant surroundings and comfortable seats will provide a haven for tired bargain-
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