HAVRE, Mont. (NMB) – Wal-Mart announced Friday, April 3 they are implementing new store policies to keep customers and employees as safe as possible during COVID-19.
Wal-Mart Executive Vice President and Chief Dacona Smith said, “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.”
Starting Saturday, April 4 only five shoppers will be allowed for each 1,000 square feet at a given time in Wal-Mart stores.
To implement this, Wal-Mart employees will count customers one-by-one as they enter the store. Once a store has reached capacity, employees will then count shoppers with a one-in-one-out system.
“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.”
Wal-Mart will also be instigating one-way directions for each of the store aisles to keep the six-feet rule intact between shoppers and employees.
“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.”
Throughout the rest of the pandemic, Wal-Mart states they will continue to act in accordance with any new information and advice they receive from medical experts, customers and associates.
For more information visit corporate.walmart.com.
