The pre-Christmas rush and Black Friday both occur in November; and these events place huge pressure on shopping centres – and on their washrooms. Tom Marshall from Tork manufacturer, Essity looks at ways of ensuring that retail washrooms are up to the challenge of the ‘Big Shop’.
The global pandemic has dramatically changed the way in which we carry out our shopping. Many people are reluctant to face the crowds in the mall since these have the potential for spreading infections and viruses. In any case, most of us have become familiar with the practice of online shopping which allows us to browse from the comfort of our own homes and purchase goods with ease.
But this spells bad news for traditional shops which are keen to attract back our business; and with Black Friday and Christmas fast approaching, they have a strong incentive for reassuring customers that their premises are safe to visit. The washrooms tend to be a particular sticking point in retail centres. Anyone spending more than a few hours at the shops – and potentially taking breaks for coffees and snacks while they are there – will require access to a washroom. But if the retail centre toilets are overcrowded and subject to long queues, valuable shopping time will be lost.
Badly managed washrooms could also lead to messy, dirty and unhygienic conditions which will create a bad impression on customers. Additionally, shoppers with a previous bad experience of a particular retail centre’s toilets might deliberately cut short their visit to enable them to avoid having to use the washrooms, which will have a negative impact on the venue’s sales.
Washrooms need to be cleaned and restocked regularly in high-traffic venues. Poorly serviced washrooms could all too easily facilitate the spread of infections and viruses which could all be transmitted by touching a surface that an infected person has previously touched. So, if a shopper leaves the retail centre washrooms without having washed and dried their hands – either because the queues for the facilities were too long or because the supply of soap or hand towels had run out – they will go on to touch other surfaces outside the washroom and risk infecting others.
Today’s growing trend for self-service tills with their communally used touchscreens is only serving to increase the risk of us picking up a bug in a retail centre. Hand washing is a highly effective method of removing transient bacteria and viruses from the hands. But shoppers will only have the opportunity to practice good hand hygiene when visiting the washroom.
Shopping centre managers should, therefore, ensure that their washrooms are up to scratch and that they provide enough cubicles and wash basins to cater for all, plus a plentiful supply of soap and paper products. Finally, they should ideally be welcoming places where customers are encouraged to take time out.
Spacious facilities with pleasant surroundings and comfortable seats will provide a haven for tired bargain hunters, while shoppers in a hurry should be able to use the facilities quickly without having to queue.
Bottlenecks can easily occur in a badly-designed washroom – particularly if visitors are forced to open an outer door and squeeze past others to get in and out. Dogleg partitions at the entrance to washrooms will avoid this issue and help to speed up the visitor’s entry and exit.
When installing fixtures such as sinks, mirrors and dispensers, the designer needs to consider which way queues will naturally form, and efforts should be made to prevent the queues for the toilets and hand hygiene facilities from clashing with one another since this could create frustrating logjams. Soap and hand towel dispensers should be in plentiful supply, and these should be up to the challenge of high-traffic conditions.
No-one likes to leave a washroom with wet hands, but queues will often form around air dryers in a busy washroom. It takes at least 10 seconds for even the fastest of jet air dryers to take effect – during which time the washroom visitor is forced to stay rooted to the spot while others await their turn behind them.
Roller towels shave seconds off the task of hand-drying, but again the dispenser only accommodates one user at a time. Paper hand towel dispensers are, therefore, a good option because they allow the user to take a towel and move aside, freeing up space for the next person and reducing the risk of logjams.
Ensuring that the washrooms of a shopping centre remain clean, hygienic, and well stocked at all times is not an easy task during the pre- Christmas rush. But neglecting to do so could lead to illnesses, dissatisfied customers, and precious time spent away from the shop floor. Thus, it makes good business sense for retail managers to think through their washrooms and ensure that they are equipped to cope with whatever the festive season throws at them. Tork manufacturer, Essity offers a range of washroom systems for high-traffic facilities including the Tork PeakServe® ContinuousTM Hand Towel Dispenser which holds up to 2,100 towels and the Tork Foam Soap dispenser which serves up to 1,650 people.
For more information visit: www.tork.co.za