A growing number of retailers and grocery delivery firms have announced the suspension of delivery services on Monday 19 September, in a mark of respect on the day of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral.
With Monday declared as a Bank Holiday and a national day of mourning, UK businesses have stressed they want to enable their staff to pay their respects.
B&Q will pause its click and click service, home delivery offerings and close all of its UK stores. The DIY retailer explain on its website it is taking the action, “as a mark of respect for the State Funeral for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and to offer our colleagues the opportunity to pay their respects”.
While, IKEA is closing its business operations in the UK “out of respect for Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and to enable our co-workers to participate in Her funeral.”
M&S will also be pausing all customer deliveries from M&S.com and will halt operations at its ecommerce distribution centre from 6am until the evening shift.
Stuart Machin, M&S chief executive, said: “All of us at M&S – and indeed across the country and beyond – feel a real and deep sense of loss and sadness at the passing of Her Majesty, as well as huge respect for the grace with which His Majesty King Charles III and the wider Royal Family have led the nation in our mourning.
“It is right that we make changes to our operational arrangements on the day of the funeral to ensure our colleagues across our stores and distribution network can participate, whilst supporting customers as they show their respects too.”
Furthermore, Britain’s supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Asda, Aldi and Lidl have confirmed they will close stores with delivery services halted.
Online grocery Ocado has also cancelled all deliveries on Monday. In a statement, it said: “We are deeply saddened by the death of Her Majesty The Queen. As a mark of respect, Ocado will be closed for deliveries on 19th September so all our colleagues can pay their respects on this day of national mourning.”
The online grocer is contacting everyone with an order booked for Monday to rearrange their delivery. “We’d like to thank customers for their understanding,” Ocado added.
Retailers that are closing their physical stores on Monday have already signalled on their websites, this includes Next, John Lewis and Primark, as well as department stores Selfridges, Harrods and Liberty London.
