COVID-19: Temporary closures and re-openings

Shops shut, but we keep on cleaning

April 12th 2021 : UK Reopening

We are so thrilled to be reopening our shops across England & Wales on Monday 12th April 2021; we’re ready and raring to give you that Lush shopping experience you’ve been missing (to our Irish and Scottish customers, we’ll update you as soon as we receive further information from local governments).

Your local Lush shop team will be on hand to support you with any queries when you arrive at your local shop. However, if you’re wondering what your new Lush shopping experience will be like, we thought it might be handy to pop a list of questions and answers below. Please note these answers are specific to our UK shops, so please check your country’s website for all the latest updates in your region.

New in-shop safety measures

We have been leaning on government guidelines, and adding our own additional measures to ensure that we are doing all that we can to provide the safest possible environment for both our staff and customers to return to. Here are the changes we’ve made across all our shops to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our staff and customers:

Upon returning to work all staff will undertake health and safety training in accordance with government guidelines.
We have sourced recycled and recyclable perspex screens for our till areas.
We’ll be providing our staff with face coverings to wear on their way to and from work as well as in-store.
In line with the latest government advice, customers visiting our shops are kindly asked to ensure that they are wearing a face covering before entering the shop, unless they have a medical reason not to do so or any other exemption.
Staff will continue to be provided with gloves to use when appropriate.
Following government guidelines we’ll be limiting the number of people in-store at any one time; this number will vary depending on the size of the individual store.
Stores will have clear floor markings making it easier for customers and staff to adhere to the 2m distancing rule in place.
Following government guidelines, and for the safety of staff and customers, we’ll be operating our shops with a lower staffing level than you’re used to seeing. Over the course of the next few months, our teams will gradually be increased as and when it’s safe to do so. Rest assured, staff will still be available to answer any questions and offer help when needed.
We’ll continue to ensure soap and warm water is available for staff and customers to wash their hands regularly. We would be grateful if you would wash your hands when you arrive in the shop. You are also very welcome to wash them again before leaving.
Frequent touchpoints such as baskets and pin pads will be cleaned after each use.
Stringent cleaning measures will continue to be in place around the shop.

If you have any further questions, please give our friendly Customer Care team a call on 01202 930051

Some stores are quite small. Are you going to limit the number of people in-store? How are you going to implement social distancing rules?

We’ll be following the government-mandated ‘distance per customer’ guidelines in all of our shops. We have experience of putting closely monitored queues in place to adhere to fire safety capacity during the busy Christmas season. Our teams will ensure that social distancing is a priority, to ensure their own safety and that of our customers. Where there is not sufficient space to do this, we have the option of setting up kiosk-style selling at the front of our shops.

Stores will have clear floor markings making it easier for customers and staff to adhere to the 2m distancing rule in place.

Our consultations will look and feel a bit different to usual, however, staff will be able to answer any questions and offer recommendations based on your requests from a safe distance.

Our stores are very active on social media and most stores will have the capacity to offer consultations online or over the phone so please reach out to your local store to see if this is a possibility.

As things are changing rapidly around the country this is very much dependent on each store location. Stores are monitoring local government guidance and evaluating the ‘r rate’ in their area to decide what level of customer experience they can offer.

The Lush Lens app is a fantastic informative way to experience virtual demos of our naked products. You can download it on iOS and Android.

If you’d like to try a product before purchasing, please feel free to ask the team member for a contact-free demo and they will be able to facilitate this safely and hygienically for you. Alternatively, please ask for a sample to take away and try at home.

In the same way that supermarkets are continuing to sell unpackaged food, we will continue to display and sell naked cosmetics. To the best of our knowledge, and from the external advice we have sought, there is very little chance of viruses surviving on the surface of naked products. However, we know that naked products are going to make some people a bit nervous, so for peace of mind customers can request an item they wish to purchase from our stock, rather than the display.

At this time, hand hygiene is more important than ever, so please ensure you wash your hands before applying anything to your face.

Our opening hours vary from shop to shop so please check out your local store’s hours on the shop pages here.

As per the latest government advice, for the protection of others, we are kindly asking all customers to ensure that they are wearing a mask or face covering before entering any of our shops, unless they have a medical reason not to or any other exemption.

Can I order over the phone/email with the store and just pick it up, pay and leave?

Please contact your local store to enquire if this is a possibility. You can find store contact details here.

Yes! We’ll happily take back your black pots. Please ask a member of staff where they would like you to leave your pots. They’ll then safely return them to our Green Hub in Poole. You may have seen recently we’ve updated our bring it back scheme to offer you more choice; for further information take a look here.

Will your stores with services such as spas, hairdressing and makeup services be open?

Whilst the stores offering these services will be opening, the services themselves will continue to be suspended or limited until we have received clear updates from the government. Please contact your local shop for further information on what they can offer at this point.

If you have a spa voucher that is due to expire please contact our customer care team on 01202 668545 who will be happy to extend these for you.

Can parties take place?

In-store parties have to continue to be suspended, however, we know our customers haven’t stopped having birthdays during lockdown. Digital party formats are currently being worked on by a select number of stores. Call your local shop and ask if they are offering these options.

Yes. Our shops will be taking cash and card payments. The contactless limit for VISA, AMEX and Mastercard payment cards in the UK has been lifted to £45. Above that limit you can still use the touchpad – we will be cleaning it after each customer.

5th January 2021: UK&I temporary shop closures

Today we announce the temporary closure of all our UK&I stores, until further notice, in line with current Government advice, to help prevent the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19).

As during the first lockdown, our factory and web order teams will be making and packing products for you, ensuring our website will be available for online orders throughout, with FREE standard delivery within the UK on orders over £45.

We know that relaxing baths have helped many cope through these times of confinement. So whether you are venturing out for essentials or staying tucked away at home, please each and every one of you stay safe. Rest assured that plenty of soap and a very warm welcome awaits you at our shops when they reopen.

*Here’s the inevitable small print:

FREE standard delivery with spends over £45 at uk.lush.com* – for a limited time only

UK Standard Delivery (£3.95) – If you select this option, parcels weighing less than 2.5kg will be sent with Royal Mail so keep your eyes peeled for your local postie! For larger orders (over 2.5kg) we will use a courier, which may require a signature upon delivery.

All our couriers are still operational, but are currently reporting slight delays.

December 2020 : Uk and I shops reopen

Throughout December, in line with tiers and government advice, we will be reopening shops across the UK and Ireland. We continue to offer other services including call and collect and online orders.

November 2020 🇬🇧 : England temporary store closure

Thursday 5th November sees the temporary closure of our English stores, in line with Government guidelines to help prevent the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19). It is ironic that a soap shop should shut at the very time when our product is not just wonderful to use, but lifesaving. Our priority during this lockdown is to ensure that we maintain staff and customer safety whilst ensuring everyone can get hold of the items you need to see you through.

For those who only wish to quickly grab a few items or couple of bars of soap, your local shop will be doing all it can to provide a service where, if you are out and about doing your food shop, you can place orders for collection at the door – also some of our shops will deliver to your home if you are staying in. We can provide phone consultations for anyone who needs a bit of help selecting the right product, because we still want to ensure you love everything you buy. To find out which of these services your local shop has been able to safely put in place check here

Our three Welsh shops should be reopening on the 9th of November, Scotland & Northern Ireland remain open at the time of writing, while the Republic of Ireland is offering order and collect services from Cork and Dublin Grafton Street.

October 23rd 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇮🇪 : Temporary shop closures Wales & Republic of Ireland

This week sees the temporary closure of our Welsh and Republic of Ireland stores, in line with Government guidelines to help prevent the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) in those areas.

It is ironic that a soap shop should shut at the very time when our product is not just wonderful to use, but lifesaving. So thankfully our manufacturing and digital fulfilment teams are still working hard to make and dispatch online orders for you, whilst observing all the essential extra hygiene measures these current times require. We are currently offering FREE standard delivery within the UK on orders over £45 at uk.lush.com.

Please, each and every one of you stay safe. Plenty of soap and a warm welcome awaits you at our shops when they reopen, hopefully throughout November and into December. Until then, with much love from All at Lush.

June 2020 🇬🇧 : Shops Reopen

Throughout June we opened another 175 shops across the group, including the majority of our UK&I stores, leaving us with just 19 stores closed by the end of the month.

17 April 2020 🇬🇧

UK website reopens

Following a temporary pause on our website, we are now ready and raring to go again, and waiting to take your orders.

The great news is you can still enjoy FREE standard delivery within the UK on orders over £45. The not so great news is that your parcel is very likely to take longer than usual to get to you. We are currently looking at deliveries arriving 15 to 20 working days after the point of ordering.

You might also find some products are still temporarily unavailable to purchase.

We’ve spent the last few weeks reorganising ourselves, getting our ducks in a row and ensuring the safety of all our manufacturing teams, pickers and packers. We believe in happy people making happy soap, so we have taken the following steps, amongst others, to ensure this firmly remains the case:

Introduced floor markings throughout our hand making, packing and despatch areas, to make it easier for people to keep a minimum of 2 meters distance between themselves and their colleagues.
The space has been redesigned to allow for increased distance between work-stations, in the interest of creating a safer and more comfortable environment for our colleagues to work within.
Additional shifts have been put in place to allow for a reduced number of people in a working space at any given time.
The same colleagues will be working on the same shifts together, to minimise unnecessary contact with members of different teams.
Staggered breaks have been introduced to make rest times safer, easier and more practical.
We are also ensuring the provision of safety equipment throughout our manufacturing and fulfilment team.

If you need a hand choosing products or have delivery questions, our customer care team is more than happy to help over the phone, or via email and live chat – they are working from home, so expect the occasional dog bark or interruption from an excited child.

Our retail shops currently remain closed until further notice.

We hope you’ll understand and bear with us in these new circumstances, as we get up and running again and find new ways to work that meet the needs of you, our staff and the delivery and courier services.

We expect everything to run smoothly, but we will be keeping things under constant review and will alert you of any changes necessary.

Love from all at Lush.

30th March 2020 🇬🇧

With the situation constantly changing, we have decided to temporarily close our UK website. We will keep this decision constantly under review, but for now we are estimating that there will be no orders taken for the next three weeks. We look forward to serving you as soon as we feel able to get our operations up and running again.

We are so sorry not to be able to provide our usual service to you during these difficult times, but whilst we are gone please remember to wash your hands, stay in and stay safe.

Love from all at Lush

Whilst we sadly cannot interact in person at the moment, with our retail stores temporarily closed, we will be using our digital spaces to provide Lush updates and entertainment for you during this uncertain time. We have some exciting live and interactive events taking place on our YouTube channel over the next couple of weeks, as well as plenty of content to indulge in. You can experience all the fun and frolics of the shop floor on our new Lush TikTok page. And to ensure that there is a single location that you can keep in the loop with all Lush happenings, we’ll be popping live updates onto Lush Instagram stories.

#LushCommunity

21st March 2020

Today we announce the temporary closure of all our UK&I stores, from end of trade on Saturday 21st March until further notice, to help prevent the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19).

We make this decision with a heavy heart because our instinct is to serve our customers, not to shutter our shops. Lush is not just our life’s work, we know that Lush staff would go to the ends of the earth for this company – but in the immediate best interests of them and our customers the time is now right to close our retail shops.

It is ironic that a soap shop should shut at the very time when our product is not just wonderful to use, but lifesaving. So thankfully our manufacturing and digital fulfilment teams are still working hard to make and despatch online orders for you, whilst observing all the essential extra hygiene measures these current times require. We are currently offering FREE standard delivery within the UK on orders over £45 at uk.lush.com*

Lush would like to express our deep appreciation and respect to healthcare workers worldwide who are giving their all to care for the sick, if there is anything we can do to help please get in touch. We will also be looking for community groups to donate whatever soap is left on our shelves.

Throughout the history of Lush our amazing, loyal worldwide customer base has seen us through growing pains, the economic crash and local disasters. Please, each and every one of you stay safe. Plenty of soap and a warm welcome awaits you at our shops when they reopen. Until then, with much love from All at Lush.