If you love a queue, then you’re in for a treat. After months of queuing outside supermarkets and pharmacies – and even joining online queues for delivery slots – today’s reopening of the high streets has given the British public yet more opportunities to test its collective patience.

You can join hundreds of people in a socially distanced line for Primark! You can make a day of it by repeating the process outside all of your favourite stores! Even better, you can’t use the fitting rooms – so you may queue all over again to make returns! Suddenly spending three months indoors doesn’t seem so bad, eh?

Of course, the queues are a good thing. They indicate the public is keen to get the economy up and running again. Until today, all bets were off on whether the public would embrace the relaxed restrictions, or stay indoors due to coronavirus fears. The throngs of eager shoppers outside the likes of Primark, Nike, Zara and Sports Direct shops today will no doubt be a source of cheer for retailers who have spent months closed – and have carefully prepared to reopen their doors safely and within social distancing guidelines.

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But there is a question how long this patience will last. Today, shoppers were keen to regain a slice of normality. After months of being confined to the same activities, the reopening of the high street has given the public a much-needed dose of retail therapy.

Once that novelty wears off, though, it might be a different picture. Even for Brits (famous for their orderliness) queues have a finite appeal. This is where the much-maligned one-stop shop format could be at an advantage. In an age when every shop carries a queue, the concept of getting everything under one roof has never been so appealing.

We’ve seen this already, during the lockdown, with shoppers making less shopping trips, but buying more items. And it could happen in the wider retail arena.

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That would be a boost for department stores such as John Lewis, which has committed to opening 13 branches in stages, starting with the stores in Kingston and Poole today, and 11 on Thursday. It should also ensure that large supermarket formats continue to hold their appeal. After all, why join a separate queue when you could simply visit your Argos concession at Sainsbury’s? Why not get your basic items of clothing at M&S, where you can combine that trip with a top-up food shop?

Either way, it will be interesting to see how non-food items perform during this period. Common sense suggests the larger supermarkets should continue to benefit the most thanks to their one-stop-shop appeal, even as alternative outlets open. And crucially they’ve had lots of time to practice safe social distancing. 

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