Lockdown forces Winchester Christmas shop to close only weeks after first opening

A shop owner from Winchester has had to close her shop, weeks after opening, due to the second national coronavirus lockdown.

Cathy Willis closed her festive charity shop on the first day of the current lockdown. She told WINOL: “We forgot to stock up on essential Christmas cake and mince pies!”

However, things are looking up for the business as they have been able to set up a functional click-and-collect service to help fulfil everybody’s Christmas needs.

When the business found out that they would have to go online, they had to create a website in a very small amount of time to keep their customers happy. Ms Willis told WINOL: “In the commercial world, a team would be working on the website for months.”

As the system is brand-new, according to the owner there are still some glitches to be worked out. But they are working every day to solve these issues.

It has also been noted that this website was created by a part-time young mum at the charity headquarters who has worked over the past few weeks to make sure the site is successfully up and running.