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Phase Two reopening: Authorities issue advisory for retail outlets, lifestyle services to prepare for resumption of business

SINGAPORE — The Government has issued a set of guidelines for retail establishments and lifestyle-related services as Singapore moves into the second phase of reopening its economy on Friday (June 19).

Shops within malls, at public housing residential blocks, MRT stations or bus interchanges are not required to adhere to occupancy limits, but must maintain safe distancing between customers.

Shops within malls, at public housing residential blocks, MRT stations or bus interchanges are not required to adhere to occupancy limits, but must maintain safe distancing between customers.

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SINGAPORE — The Government has issued a set of guidelines for retail establishments and lifestyle-related services as Singapore moves into the second phase of reopening its economy on Friday (June 19). 

In a joint statement on Tuesday, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), the Housing and Development Board (HDB) and trade agency Enterprise Singapore outlined the various measures that these businesses will have to comply with as they reopen for business. 

In addition to these, they must continue to roll out the safe management measures previously announced by the Ministry of Manpower and comply with the Covid-19 (Temporary Measures) (Control Order) regulations.

Here are the new measures:

Occupancy limits

  • All malls and large standalone stores, which have a gross floor area of more than 930 sqm, must only have one person per 10 sqm of gross floor area. All covered floor areas of a building, except otherwise stated, and uncovered areas for commercial uses are deemed part of the gross floor area.

  • All other stores — such as shops within malls, at HDB residential blocks, MRT stations or bus interchanges — are not required to adhere to these occupancy limits as long as they can maintain at least 1m distancing between individual customers or groups of customers.

  • Safe management measures for customer-facing operations.

Queue management

  • Retail establishments have to clearly demarcate queue lines for customers at entrances, cashier counters, weighing counters and fitting rooms. Where required, they must ensure at least 1m between customers.

Crowd management

  • Activities and events in stores or mall atriums cannot be held. Supermarkets may be allowed to hold such activities but by appeal on a case-by-case basis. All common play areas for children in retail stores or malls must also be closed.

  • Contact tracing and health checks: All malls and stores must implement SafeEntry for customers and visitors to aid contact-tracing efforts. They must also conduct temperature screening and checks on visible symptoms — such as coughing, sneezing, breathlessness and runny nose — for customers at entrances. They must turn away customers with a fever or who appear unwell, unless the individual is entering the premises to seek medical treatment.

Cleanliness and hygiene

  • All employees, customers and delivery personnel and other on-site personnel must wear a mask properly at all times. Product testers and samples that require customer contact — such as cosmetics and food samples — must be removed. Retail establishments must ensure frequent cleaning and disinfection of common spaces where customers are served (counters and display shelves), items which have high human contact (shopping trolleys, baskets, handrails), and interactive hardware (iPads, self-checkout kiosks, lift buttons).

  • Retail establishments should also put up clear signs to remind customers of the measures stipulated and deploy staff members to communicate this to customers. 

MEASURES FOR SPECIFIC TRADES

The authorities also outlined guidelines for specific trades, such as department stores, pharmacies, and beauty services such as spas, hair salons and nail services.

Beauty services

  • Customers receiving facial treatments or facial therapies in private rooms are allowed to remove their masks during their treatment, but operators must ensure that the private room is thoroughly disinfected before and after use.

  • Face masks should still be kept on in open settings, such as in open-format salons where customers are seated together.

  • Employees must sanitise their hands before and after each customer’s treatment. They must also wear appropriate protective gear, where practicable.

  • All operators must disinfect all tools and workstations before and after each service.

  • They must ensure good ventilation in the premises, where practicable, and assign one therapist to follow through with all treatments with the same customer, if possible.

  • They should refrain from serving food and beverages to customers and remove shared items such as magazines and newspapers.

Fashion retail

  • Fitting rooms, seats and try-out areas should be spaced at least 1m apart and clearly demarcated. They should also be disinfected after each use.

  • Discourage the testing and trying of products. Products tried on by customers should be sanitised where possible, for example, by steaming, cleaning or leaving overnight to air. Other reasonable sanitation methods are also allowed.

  • Roll out click-and-collect systems to reduce dwell time or encourage online purchases by having a flexible return policy.

Department stores

  • Maker workshops, in-store product launches and promotional activities that would result in congregation must not be organised.

  • These businesses can also consider establishing separate check-out or collection counters for in-store purchases, redemptions, click-and-collect and home delivery orders in order to minimise queues.

  • They should also put in place standard operating procedures to identify hot spots and manage large crowds and long queues both within and outside the department stores. For example, they can consider redirecting customers to other outlets, breaking queues into several sections or implement queue management systems.

Book and stationery stores

  • Book launches, readings, meet-the-author sessions and promotional activities that will result in large congregations must not be organised.

  • Minimise browsing by encouraging customers to read book summaries online and reduce browsing in-store.

Pharmacies, traditional chinese medicine (TCM) and health supplement retail stores

  • These businesses can consider providing dedicated shopping hours for vulnerable groups, such as the elderly, persons with disabilities and pregnant women.

  • Pharmacies should encourage customers to opt for teleconsultation services and to book appointments with pharmacists, where available.

  • TCM and health supplement retail stores must not allow health drink or product sampling.

ENFORCEMENT OF MEASURES

In the joint statement, the authorities said government agencies will conduct inspections to ensure that these safe management measures are properly implemented.

They added that under the Covid-19 (Temporary Measures) Act, first-time offenders will be fined up to S$10,000, jailed up to six months, or face both penalties.

Repeat offenders may be fined up to S$20,000, jailed up to 12 months, or punished with both.

Businesses that do not roll out or comply with the stipulated measures may also be ineligible for government grants, loans, tax rebates and other assistance, they said.

PREPARATIONS UNDER WAY AT MALLS 

In response to TODAY’s queries, mall operators said they will abide by safe distancing rules set out by the authorities, open more entrances and exits, use SafeEntry to aid contact tracing, roll out temperature screening for shoppers and employees, and ratchet up cleaning measures.

Mr Chris Chong, managing director for retail at CapitaLand Singapore, said that the mall operator has rolled out enhanced cleaning and disinfection measures across its shopping complexes. 

CapitaLand operates 18 malls here, including Bugis Junction, Junction 8 in Bishan and Plaza Singapura in Dhoby Ghaut.

Such measures include increasing the frequency of cleaning and disinfection in areas that are frequently touched every two or three hours and using autonomous ultraviolet (UV) disinfection robots, said Mr Chong.

He added that the operator will also open more entrances at its malls to enable easier access for shoppers. 

A spokesperson for Frasers Property Retail, which runs 14 malls including Causeway Point in Woodlands and Waterway Point in Punggol, said it will deploy more staff members to facilitate temperature screening at all points. 

The spokesperson added that it has also deployed UV disinfecting autonomous mobile robots to ensure deep cleaning and disinfection of mall premises. All its tenants have also been advised to carry out deep cleaning of their shops.

"We will continue to monitor the situation, and look into opening additional entry and exit points at our malls for a smoother and more efficient flow of traffic if and where necessary," said the spokesperson. 

A spokesperson for Mustafa Centre, a 24-hour shopping centre in Little India, said it is still deciding if it will open its doors at midnight on Friday, when the second phase is set to kick in. It reopened its supermarket on May 6, after a cluster of Covid-19 cases forced the shopping complex to shut for cleaning and disinfection.

Ms Jenny Khoo, head of asset operations for Lendlease, said that safe distancing measures introduced since March would continue. These include deploying security crew to control crowds and directing shoppers to manned entrances to manage operating capacity within the shopping centres.

Lendlease operates malls such as 313@Somerset, Jem in Jurong East and Parkway Parade in Marine Parade.

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