Walmart Changes Shopping Process to Encourage Social Distancing
April 03 2020 - 04:55PM
Business Wire
In this taxing and uncertain time, our associates have gone
above and beyond to help Americans get the food, medicine, and
supplies they need.
We care deeply about our associates’ health and well-being, and
in recent weeks we’ve taken steps such as expanding our paid leave
policies; closing our stores overnight for cleanings and
restocking; installing sneeze guards and social distance markers in
stores; beginning temperature checks; and starting to make gloves
and masks available to associates who want them.
While many of our customers have been following the advice of
the medical community regarding social distancing and safety, we
have been concerned to still see some behaviors in our stores that
put undue risk on our people. We want to encourage customers to
bring the fewest number of people per family necessary to shop,
allow for space with other customers while shopping, and practice
social distancing while waiting in lines. We’re also seeing states
and municipalities set varying policies regarding crowd control –
which has created some confusion regarding shopping.
To promote health, safety, and consistency for our associates
and customers in this environment, we’re taking some further steps
for our U.S. stores:
Regulating store entry
Starting Saturday, we will limit the number of customers who can
be in a store at once. Stores will now allow no more than five
customers for each 1000 square feet at a given time, roughly 20
percent of a store’s capacity.
To manage this restriction, the associates at a store will mark
a queue at a single-entry door (in most cases the Grocery entrance)
and direct arriving customers there, where they will be admitted
one-by-one and counted. Associates and signage will remind
customers of the importance of social distancing while they’re
waiting to enter a store – especially before it opens in the
morning.
Once a store reaches its capacity, customers will be admitted
inside on a “1-out-1-in” basis.
Shopping inside the store
We’ll also institute one-way movement through our aisles next
week in a number of our stores, using floor markers and direction
from associates. We expect this to help more customers avoid coming
into close contact with others as they shop.
We’ll continue to put signage inside our stores to remind
customers of the need to maintain social distancing – especially in
lines. And once customers check out, they will be directed to exit
through a different door than they entered, which should help
lessen the instances of people closely passing each other.
We always want people to feel welcome at Walmart, and we know
that in ordinary times a store is a gathering place for members of
a community to connect and socialize. We look forward to the time
when that is again the case, however we now want to prioritize
health and safety by encouraging customers to do their shopping at
a distance from others, then head home.
As the COVID-19 situation continues to develop, our leaders and
operations teams will continue to listen to advice from medical
experts, associates, and customers, and consider how we can best
serve people while helping slow the spread of the virus. The health
and safety of our associates and customers is what matters the
most.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200403005524/en/
Media contact: Kory Lundberg – 1-800-331-0085
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