How has it been for everyone this past week? Have you noticed much change in your levels of business since measures have begun to be eased? Any Durham dealers spotted an influx of customers from London checking their eyesight?!

Joking aside, with all retailers now gearing up to come back on stream, one suspects that we'll see those dealers who have been closed entirely during this period, making steps towards reopening.

Physical transformations and adaptations of showrooms will have to be the norm across the country. The official government guidelines on what steps retailers are expected to make in order to comply with the social distancing required, can be read here.

Hazard warning tape, floor stickers, one-way routes, screens and the like will all become commonplace across high-street stores in the coming weeks, so dealers shouldn't feel that transforming their places of business will be off-putting for customers. 

Quite the contrary in fact. Not only will it simply be something which we'll all have to become used to - it should in fact act as a reassurance for customers. Obvious in-store measures will instantly show that the business cares about trying to provide the safest environment possible for both their customers and their staff. I suspect we'll find that stores who do not make any changes, run the risk of being looked upon with suspicion.

For a feature in the next issue of Service Dealer magazine, we have spoken to several dealers across the country, who trade across the domestic, commercial turfcare and agricultural machinery sectors, about what measures they have undertaken recently at their dealerships.

Some have showrooms that are open in one capacity or another right now, whilst others are building up to reopening.

Commercial machinery dealer, Chris Gibson of GGM Groundscare in Colne, Lancashire for example told us they had undertaken a complete risk assessment and were reviewing the results before allowing customers back on site.

Chris told us, “Our plan is that we want to open our showrooms on the 1st June. We’ll have all the proper signage etc in place – but we’re not going to open the whole of the building. We will have certain areas clearly marked off and restricted from public access."

Chris kindly provided us with some pictures of the Colne depot, with the below an example of the signage they have now put in place.

Clearly this will all take some getting used to, by both staff and customers. But frankly it's the way things are - and the way things are going to be for the foreseeable future. As such, it's vitally important that the correct measures are put in place now.

Pete McArthur of Strathbogie Forest & Garden in Aberdeenshire, who is currently providing the Diary of Season column for Service Dealer magazine told us, "This will be how things are, certainly for the rest of the year. So that’s why we’re taking a little bit longer to reopen the showroom – we want to get it right.

“It’s important for us that we do it correctly, now – so we don’t have issues going forward."

A very sensible attitude and one which I'm sure we'll see repeated by dealers across the country - and appreciated by their customers.