‘We’re so nervous': England’s bookshops prepare to reopen on Monday | Books | The Guardian

Melissa Davies had planned to fulfil a lifelong dream and open her independent bookshop, Pigeon Books, in Southsea, at the beginning of April. Those plans were put on hold by the coronavirus pandemic, but with a relaxation of lockdown rules from next week, bookshops will be able to open to customers - for the first time in over two months. Davies and her husband are now preparing for a very different sort of opening. "We had to quickly rethink our entire business plan and how we could operate, and now we're gearing up to open our doors for the first time under really different circumstances," she says. The tiny Pigeon Books will ask its browsing customers to use hand sanitiser, or wear gloves, before and after touching books, and will restrict the number of customers in the shop to two at a time.