March 31, 2021 2.05 pm This story is over 36 months old

Lincolnshire shop roasts customers: “Treat your masks like your knickers”

Some kept wearing their masks incorrectly
The quirky message advising customers about wearing masks correctly was put up in the window at Stamford Animal and Pet Supplies in Spalding. | Photo: Stephen Daniels 

A staff member at a pet supply shop in Spalding was getting fed up with some customers not wearing their masks properly, so they put up a note in the window telling people to “treat your masks like your knickers or pants”.

Stamford Animal and Pet Supplies has stores in Spalding, Stamford and Oakham. The Spalding store has been on Westlode Street for around 20 years and sales assistant Nicky Killon used her weird sense of humour to try and make her point.

The note was put in the window during lockdown last year, but the shop has remained open the whole time as it is classed as essential.

It reads “Treat your masks like your knickers or pants” with the following six bullet points:

  • Do not touch or adjust (especially in public)
  • Make sure the fit is tight and comfortable
  • Do not borrow or lend
  • Make sure it is clean
  • If it’s damp – change it
  • Don’t go commando

Nicky, who has worked at the shop for eight years, told The Lincolnite: “I was getting fed up with people not having their masks on right.

“I have a weird sense of humour and thought it was funny and every other customer comments on it. It has had lots of reaction, nobody has complained.

“A lot of people found it funny and have taken photos.

“I have done quirky things before like selling melted snowmen with a carrot in a bucket.”

The Spalding branch of Stamford Animal and Pet Supplies will close permanently on May 22, 2021. | Photo: Stephen Daniels

The shop will be closing permanently on May 22 this year due to a downturn in trade and the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. However, the stores in Stamford and Oakham will remain open.

Two of the staff, including Nicky, accepted voluntary redundancy and another is relocating to the Oakham shop.

Nicky added: “It feels like the end of an era.”