LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Beginning Saturday, Walmart stores across the country will limit the number of customers allowed inside at one time to help combat the spread of the novel coronavirus.
"Stores will now allow no more than five customers for each 1,000 square feet at a given time, roughly 20 percent of a store’s capacity," said Dacona Smith, Walmart's executive vice president and chief operating officer said in a memo posted to the company's website.
To enforce this new policy, Smith said Walmart associates will direct customers to "a queue at a single-entry door (in most cases the Grocery entrance) ... where they will be admitted one-by-one and counted." Customers will be admitted inside on a "1-out-1-in" basis once the store reaches capacity, she added.
Once customers check out, the memo said they will be directed to exit through a different door than the one through which they entered, which Moore said "should help lessen the instances of people closely passing each other."
Some Walmart stores will also begin instituting one-way movement through their aisles next week, Moore said, by using floor markers and having associates directing customers.
"We’ll continue to put signage inside our stores to remind customers of the need to maintain social distancing – especially in lines," Moore said in the memo. "... 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."
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