Penney's has said it would welcome any extension to its store opening hours when it reopens once Level 5 restrictions are lifted in December.
It follows comments George Weston, the boss of the retail chain’s parent, Associated British Foods, who called for 24-hour trading in the UK in December to allow shops make up for lost lockdown sales.
In an interview with the Telegraph newspaper, Mr Weston argued such a move would allow shoppers to spread their visits safely.
A spokesperson for Penney’s, which has closed its stores here until December 1, said the safety of employees and customers was its number one priority.
"We would welcome any extension of opening hours for our stores when we re-open in December as it will allow us to cater for the higher anticipated customer demand and help to reduce customer queues by spreading potential shopping hours over a longer period of time," the company said in a statement.
"We have extensive safety measures in place in our stores to help protect our employees and customers, including a strict social distancing protocol, limits on the number of customers allowed in store, Perspex screens at tills to protect employees and customers, mandating the use of face masks in-store and increased in-store cleaning."
All non-essential retailers were forced to close two weeks ago under the Government imposed restrictions.
Retail groups have said that if the number of Covid cases here continues to decrease, then those shops should be allowed to reopen before December, in order to allow them to make up for lost pre-Christmas trading.
