// The Entertainer to give staff three “free days” to celebrate Christmas long weekend with loved ones
// This means the retailer will close on Christmas Eve and re-opening on Monday, December 28
The Entertainer has announced plans to give its staff a three day break over the Christmas and Boxing Day long weekend.
This means the toy retailer will close all 171 of its stores at the end of the day on Christmas Eve, which falls on a Thursday this year, and won’t re-open until Monday, December 28.
The news followed an announcement by Marks & Spencer, Pets at Home and Wickes that they will keep all of their stores closed on Boxing Day this year.
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- The Entertainer warns Christmas gifts may not be delivered in time if shops stay shut
- Shopworkers deserve Boxing Day off, urges union
- Pets at Home and Wickes join M&S in closing stores on Boxing Day
The shopworkers’ union Usdaw has also written to retail bosses urging them to keep their stores closed on Boxing Day, highlighting how hard store staff have been working this year as a result of the coronavirus crisis.
The Entertainer said the aim of the three-day long Christmas weekend for its staff was to give them the chance to spend “quality time” with their families during the five-day period of eased restrictions.
“Restrictions placed upon people over the last nine months have been incredibly testing and we’ve dearly missed being able to see loved ones in the ways we would normally take for granted,” The Entertainer chief executive Gary Grant said.
“With the easing of restrictions for Christmas, we want to give our staff more opportunity to rest together with their families and loved ones for some quality time.
“Our stores will close on Christmas Eve and will reopen on again until Monday 28 December, giving our employees three of the five days of the eased restriction period to spend Christmas with the people they cherish.”
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