Banquet Records have closed their shop but are still operating online

Kingston's independent record store Banquet Records will be closing its doors to customers following the COVID-19 outbreak. On Twitter earlier this week, they wrote, "with the recent Social Distancing measures advised by government, we can no longer in good faith have our physical shop open."

while music is essential, and new music is brilliant, it can’t be argued that travelling to the store is essential travel. our doors will be closed, until the time we feel it’s right to re-open.

— Banquet Records (@BanquetRecords) March 16, 2020

In the thread, Banquet Records write that "our doors will be closed, until the time we feel it’s right to re-open", and added, "some of our staff are working from home, others’ hours and roles will change. we have hundreds of thousands of pounds of records in stock, with deliveries arriving daily, and we expect minimal disruption to supply chains."

we will not lay off any staff over the coming months and expect records and CDs to get out to you in good time, with no sign of a change to the Royal Mail service.

— Banquet Records (@BanquetRecords) March 16, 2020

The store also revealed that they will be operating "with the front doors closed, with mail-order our sole focus. for the next few weeks at least, over-the-counter sales will cease and timings of when events restart are unclear."

we will now be working with the front doors closed, with mail-order our sole focus. for the next few weeks at least, over-the-counter sales will cease and timings of when events restart are unclear.

thanks for your patience.
stay well.

— Banquet Records (@BanquetRecords) March 16, 2020

Banquet Records have also revealed that their option to collect items in-store has been "temporarily removed from our online checkout".

we’re utterly stocked up and with no over-the-counter sales our entire focus is on our online retail. pic.twitter.com/HjpHo3nS0M

— Banquet Records (@BanquetRecords) March 17, 2020