The Climbers Shop in Ambleside have opened their doors again and are excited to be back up and running. With over 100 years of retail heritage they are incredibly proud to offer a huge choice of clothing and equipment for climbers, mountaineers, hillwalkers and trail runners for use in the Lake District and beyond!
The Climbers Shop is one of the Foundation 150 business supporters who either fundraise for the charity or make a donation. They have reopened their doors again and looking forward to fundraising for the Foundation. Cathy, the shop Manager, tell us their story of reopening….
“It’s taken a little time to adapt to business unusual but our staff have been fully involved in how we re-open our shop as safely as we can. We are all loving being back at work again, welcoming customers old and new through our doors and catching up with friendly faces to see how everyone has fared during lockdown. One of our team made re-useable facemasks so staff have at least two each – if you look carefully you’ll see they have a walking boot lace for a strap which is certainly a lot more comfortable than elastic behind the ears!
Our re-opening has been phased so that we have been able to offer private appointments to customers who are concerned about coming into a busy shop environment but on our fully open days we regularly manage the number of customers in the shop at any one time in line with social distancing guidance. We also close for lunch for an hour so that our staff can take a proper break outside if they wish and to allow for extra cleaning throughout the day.
From the outset we put an enhanced cleaning regime into place which, along with hand sanitizers on entry, daily disinfectant sprays and quarantining clothing that has been tried on all adds up to making our shop environment as safe as we can make it.
It’s a continual learning curve for all of us as we all have to take responsibility for stopping the spread of Coronavirus but importantly, it has also created some great discussions among the management team about how we can use lockdown almost as a re-set for how we make daily decisions within our business and how they can impact the wellbeing of our staff, our customers, our local community, local environment and climate change as a whole. Last year was our 60th anniversary and we used that as a launch pad to embark on a more sustainable path resulting in over £35,000 in donations to local charities such as Fix The Fells, Mountain Rescue and Community Action Nepal. By working with local charity Brathay to launch the Ambleside Trail 60 Ultra Marathon we succeeded in creating a fantastic event which not only showcased some of the best scenery the Lake District has to offer but also food from some of our fabulous local hotels and café’s.
This autumn we plan to build on the valuable information provided at The Lake District Foundations free Green Business Initiative by measuring the carbon footprint of our whole business and ensuring that whatever the winter season may bring, the health of our staff, customers and the environment remain at the heart of our business decisions since this Spring and summer have proved how intrinsically linked we all are.”
“We are very proud to support The Lake District Foundation by pledging 50p from every sale of our branded Nalgene Water Bottles so they can continue their vital work in protecting the beautiful, unique, fragile, World Heritage Site that we love.”
Cathy
The Climbers Shop