Advice for domestic outdoor powered machinery dealers, which came out of Service Dealer's conference call with industry body and manufacturer representatives on Wednesday this week, would be very similar to what was advised to commercial groundscare machinery dealers - it's currently open to your interpretation whether you choose to open your stores.

The "hardware" stores definition of exemption from retail store closures could it was felt, be used to claim justification for remaining open for those who wanted to. With no direct mention of garden machinery outlets in the UK government's published guidelines, the onus is on the business to run as it feels it should whilst obeying safety procedures for working.

It should be pointed out though, that the Republic Of Ireland's government has in fact specifically mentioned hardware retail stores which provide tools for gardening as essential retail outlets.

However, similar to groundscare machinery dealers, the argument for UK domestic machinery dealerships being an "essential" business would seem difficult to plead. Whilst there is no doubt that maintaining a garden is incredibly important for many customers' mental health and physical fitness, having longer than ideal grass for some months is not actually that important in the current climate.

It was conceded though, that these past couple of weeks had seen increased demand from the public for certain gardening tools. Dealers with an online offering, limiting face-to-face contact with customers, had seen increased sales.

Also in terms of domestic machinery dealership workshops continuing to operate, but with the front doors of the showrooms shut, currently the official governmental advice is 'if you can't do your job from home you can go into work to do it'. Therefore at the moment that would seem OK to continue if an individual business owner desired to do so - as long as safe, social distancing can be maintained between staff and customers.

However, if we progress into an increased full-on, Italian-style lockdown, domestic machinery mechanics would not be classified as key workers and this couldn't be justified to continue.

Whilst health and safety of staff and customers should be every dealer's number one priority right now, what should also not be forgotten is any potential damage to a business' reputation which could stick, once we come out the other side of this situation. The consensus which came out of Service Dealer's conference call, was any garden machinery dealers looking for loopholes to allow them to remain open should think carefully about any potential consequences. 

Staying up to date with the current government advice is vital.