Retail and Grocery Store Safety and Social Distancing FAQs and Recommendations

You can create temporary sanitizer stations or deploy a person at the entrance who would ensure customers don’t enter the premises with unsanitized hands. These stations must be identified with proper sanitizing station signs so that they are hard to miss. Polite reminders like “Please Keep Your Hands Clean/Sanitized”,”Use Alcohol-Based Hand Sanitizers”, or “Do Not Touch” should also be posted in and out of the store to minimize chances of contamination

Posting signs that ask customers to maintain a distance of 6 feet among themselves in aisles and passages is the best thing you can do to avoid physical contact.
Though not specifically for aisles and passages, OSHA recommends to, “Provide a waiting area for customers that is separated by at least 6 feet from a cash register workstation. Signage that instructs individuals waiting in line to remain 6 feet back from work areas may bolster the effectiveness of this engineering control.”
Social distancing floor signs like ConeBoss Signs, BigBoss A-Frame Sidewalk Signs, SlipSafe Adhesive Floor Signs are a discreet way to convey your message without having to intervene personally.
Create one-way aisles by using arrow markers, footprint signs, and floor tapes, and also restrict the number of customers allowed inside the facility at any point in time to facilitate crowd and movement control.

One-way aisles can be created by installing signs that direct shoppers to move only in one direction when walking in an aisle such as ‘this way’, ‘one-way’, ‘keep left’, ‘wait here until the aisle is clear’ and many more. Keep people from getting close to each other by telling them that they cannot reverse their course while looking for merchandise. One-way aisles make it impossible for customers to pass each other.
One way aisle floor signs are the best way to create one-way aisles in the store. Our floor signs come with a permanent acrylic adhesive that bonds well to painted and sealed concrete floors.

One way can be to set the number of people per square foot. For example - you can set the limit to 5 persons for every 1000 square feet of the floor. Or if you are aware of the fire code occupancy rating, you can reduce the figure by 50 percent, 25 percent, or any percentage you want. Designate an employee at the entrance who will stop entry after the set limit is reached. You can limit families and request only one family member to enter. You can use signage to inform shoppers about the capacity limitation inside the store.

Contactless payment is the new normal after the pandemic. Instead of cash or credit card payments, stores should shift towards contactless, digital payment methods like mobile e-wallets, bank transfers, and QR codes. If customers are making the transaction through debit/credit cards, ask them to insert/remove the card themselves. Post proper signs that intimate shoppers about the new and preferred payment methods in your store.

Following steps can be implemented in the checkout lines and payment counters to minimize physical contact:
Increase the number of checkout lanes by setting up more payment counters
Setting up self-checkout kiosks is also an effective measure for social distancing.
Request customers to stand 6 feet apart in payment queues. Line Starts here Signs can be used for this purpose.
Floor markers like footprints, tapes, and adhesive floor signs can be used to indicate where a customer needs to stand
Install sneeze guards at cash counters.
Once consumers check out, they can be directed to exit through a different door to maintain distance