Outdoor weddings allowed to take place from Monday, June 8
She says shop owners are sitting on a large amount of stock and are “very fearful for their future”.
It has already been announced that hotels, bed and breakfast houses and caravan parks can open to the public from July 20.
Said Minister Dodds: “There is a lot of pain out there in the business community.
“There’s a lot of people very fearful for the business that they have created and spent a lifetime working in and which provides jobs and services within our community.
“It’s very important when we focus on that wider issue that we take this two-staged approach.
“And by, hopefully, later this month we will ask for further easing of restrictions in relation to retail.”
She says UK guidance for restaurants to be published in the next week was being looked at and tweaked to make it specific to Northern Ireland.
The Minister made her comments as the Stormont Executive is due to meet today to confirm whether some planned changes to can start on Monday.
Vulnerable people advised to shield should be allowed outdoors from 8 June, ministers have already agreed.
Large retailers including car showrooms and shops in retail parks are aiming to reopen then, and outdoor weddings with 10 people present will also be allowed.
But the moves will only be confirmed if the R-number has stayed below one.
The R-number, or reproduction number, is the average number of people that one Coronavirus-infected person will pass the virus on to.
Last week, the executive said the R-number here was sitting at 0.9, and that it would only allow more restrictions to be eased if it was still below one on Thursday.
Ministers will receive an update from the executive’s chief medical officer and chief scientific officer about where the R-number is sitting, before they can confirm the changes that have already been provisionally announced.
It is understood the executive is not expected to announce plans to lift any other restrictions at this stage.
The executive’s five-step Pathway to Recovery does not include a timetable for each of the phases, but if these moves are allowed to begin, it means Northern Ireland will have implemented some of step two in the blueprint.
Measures that the executive wants to allow from 8 June include:
Small weddings and civil partnership ceremonies permitted outdoors, with no more than 10 people present;
Outdoor sports courts, horse trainers and dog groomers can reopen;
Hotels will be able to take advance bookings, ahead of a planned reopening in July;
Large non-food retailers can reopen, including car showrooms, electrical shops and phone shops;
About 80,000 people advised to shield can go outdoors with their household; or if they live alone they can meet one person from another household.
Ministers have stressed that people and businesses must still adhere to physical distancing rules, by staying 2m (6ft) apart.
The North’s recovery from lockdown will not be “calendar led”, and it is likely aspects of different steps of the Pathway to Recovery could take effect at the same time, the executive has said.
On Monday, First Minister Arlene Foster criticised reports of complacency and a “flagrant disregard” for the lockdown restrictions.
“You prolong the journey out of lockdown if you break rules and create conditions where COVID-19 can thrive,” she warned.
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