UK. In this series to close out 2020, we put the focus on the heroes and heroines who stood up as a global pandemic raged and ensured that store and restaurant environments in travel retail were safe and hygienic, that shelves were stocked and that customers – though few in number – could still enjoy a memorable shopping experience, even in constrained conditions.
With the assistance and input of our partners at airport companies, airlines, travel retailers, brands, airport promotion agencies and others, we present the stories of some of those individuals and teams who ensured that a pulse still beat through travel retail this year. As reported in The Moodie Davitt eZine, we salute these front line workers as our People of the Year, with our online coverage building on the pictorial montages in our year-end edition.
Here we look at how staff from WHSmith Travel has supported the NHS at the company’s in-hospital stores in the UK. Many of the retailer’s employees who usually work in rail and airport stores have volunteered their services to help in the national effort to battle COVID-19 by supporting hospital-focused colleagues and key healthcare workers in a variety of ways.
The UK travel division of WHSmith is well-known throughout the (usually) busy air and rail locations the length and breadth of the country, but less well-known is the fact that its travel team also operates 140 stores in over 100 UK hospitals. It offers brands and formats – including franchise agreements with M&S and Costa Coffee – to best meet the needs of NHS partners and customers in a variety of different sized hospitals across the country.
With the scale of the COVID-19 crisis emerging in March, WHSmith acted quickly, implementing effective safety measures and comprehensive social distancing policies throughout its estate.
As the crisis developed and with the introduction of the lockdown the company said it became clear that the right decision was to close the vast majority of its travel estate in rail stations and airports.
However, the stores in hospitals presented a different challenge, as WHSmith Travel Business Development Director Spencer Sheen explained: “Our teams were on the front line supporting NHS staff and patients who had few alternatives for shopping so we made an early decision to keep our hospital stores open and trading throughout the crisis.
“We made this decision entirely on the basis of our colleagues being happy to continue working and we were humbled by the extraordinary response from our colleagues in their support for NHS workers across our hospitals.
“Many of our people also voluntarily chose to work in hospitals throughout the summer whilst their normal rail or air store was closed, going above and beyond to offer additional support for their NHS colleagues.”
WHSmith Travel focused on supporting hospital stores in ways such as introducing new ranges of essentials groceries, an NHS staff discount scheme, Friday giveaway events and many more initiatives.
“Our aim was to deliver the best service and product proposition that would support the NHS teams throughout this challenging time,” added Sheen. “We have a real sense of pride in how our team has responded to the pandemic. We look forward to the recovery of the worldwide travel industry but will continue to place huge and appropriate focus on how we continue to support our colleagues throughout the NHS.”
*Watch out for more stories this week in which we recognise the front line workers of the aviation and travel retail sectors.
