Grocery Store Capacity Limits

[storewanderer]

I am looking here at



People seem to be reporting capacity limits of 400-1,000+ customers at a time. I am not even sure the last time I went into a retail store and saw that many people inside... maybe at Costco... maybe... definitely not at a grocery store.

It appears Wal Mart is doing a capacity limit of 1 person per 200 square feet. Kroger is doing a capacity limit of 1 person per 120 square feet.

Does this include employees and vendors too?

Kroger is reportedly using the Que Vision system to monitor this. Maybe they need to take it another step and identify hot spots in the store with too many customers at a given time and somehow restrict access. Like the long checkout lines since they have so few checkstands and too many self checkouts. That was a good system for its intended purpose (checkout lane forecasting), back when Kroger actually staffed its front ends properly and had enough checkstands to move customers through quickly.

[Alpha8472]

I have noticed that Walmart has become much less crowded inside. There are very short lines at registers and fewer shoppers. Are sales going to go down? It seems like many people will simply not bother to shop at Walmart at all and go home rather than stand in line just to get in.

I also noted many more security guards at the entrance and exits. Perhaps this discourages shoplifting much more as the security guards see these people and can recognize them better.

It has also scared away the panhandlers and the crazy homeless people that used to try to live in the store.

[cjd]

I think a lot of people have finally stopped going out shopping as much because of the constant warnings from nurses and health advisors on TV. It took a while for the behavior to change, but with what's going on in NY and other places I think people are deciding it is not worth it to go shopping very often. And now the CDC has finally recommended face coverings which have made it seem more risky to be out.

I hope something happens with this before too long. I don't see how people can take another year to 18 months of these stay at home orders with nothing to do other than going shopping which at this point is so minimized and dangerous it is not even something to look forward to. It's not good for the mental health to be cooped up for that long, especially when there's no real hope in sight of a means to the end, other than vague dates that are obviously based on nothing, really.

But if some kind of treatment or vaccine comes out (and the effectiveness of that is dubious) I don't see any other choice.

[klkla]

I hope something happens with this before too long. I don't see how people can take another year to 18 months of these stay at home orders with nothing to do other than going shopping which at this point is so minimized and dangerous it is not even something to look forward to. It's not good for the mental health to be cooped up for that long, especially when there's no real hope in sight of a means to the end, other than vague dates that are obviously based on nothing, really.

I don't think anyone is suggesting that the stay at home orders would last a year to 18 months. We are already starting to see a flattening in the amount of new cases for the communities that started following the stay at home and social distancing protocols first. While it's to early come up with a date for canceling these restrictions it as at least a hopeful sign.

IMO testing needs to be ramped up. If we were able to test every American we would be able to isolate those that need to be isolated until they are no longer contagious and let everyone else get back to their lives. But the only way I can see this happening is for the President to use The Wartime Powers Act and get these tests being produced on a massive scale.

[SamSpade]

Context of these capacity limits:
Smith's implementing them in that division of Kroger as well
https://www.fox13now.com/news/coronavir ... e-capacity

Smith's will allow up to 50 percent of a building's capacity, as calculated by international building code standards.

"As an illustration, the standard building capacity for a grocery store is 1 person per 60 square feet. Under Smith’s new reduced capacity limits, the number will be 1 person per 120 square feet," a news release from Smith's said.

At Fred Meyer (discussed elsewhere), the Portland Business Journal https://www.bizjournals.com/portland/ne ... rs-in.html crunched the numbers, reported on KGW-TV 8. This means that Hollywood Fred Meyer (largest store in the chain), could have up to 1,600 customers at any given time. The Stadium Fred Meyer (the only one that is about the size of a typical larger supermarket) can hold 883 shoppers under these new guidelines.

[babs]

Context of these capacity limits:
Smith's implementing them in that division of Kroger as well
https://www.fox13now.com/news/coronavir ... e-capacity

Smith's will allow up to 50 percent of a building's capacity, as calculated by international building code standards.

"As an illustration, the standard building capacity for a grocery store is 1 person per 60 square feet. Under Smith’s new reduced capacity limits, the number will be 1 person per 120 square feet," a news release from Smith's said.

At Fred Meyer (discussed elsewhere), the Portland Business Journal https://www.bizjournals.com/portland/ne ... rs-in.html crunched the numbers, reported on KGW-TV 8. This means that Hollywood Fred Meyer (largest store in the chain), could have up to 1,600 customers at any given time. The Stadium Fred Meyer (the only one that is about the size of a typical larger supermarket) can hold 883 shoppers under these new guidelines.

The Beaverton store is actually the largest in the chain at 220,000 sq ft. And they don't get 1600 customers on a busy Saturday. The Stadium store is about 100,000 sq ft. so more than twice the average size of a standard grocery store.

In other words, people should have no problem getting into a Fred Meyer. I noticed today that Costco was letting far fewer people into their stores than they have in the past.

In all of this Costco is probably the retailer who was the first to limit store traffic and continues to impose additional restrictions as they work their way through this. Winco seems to be doing the least. I went through their self-checkout and no one was cleaning anything.

[storewanderer]

Winco seems to be doing the least. I went through their self-checkout and no one was cleaning anything.

What else is the "least" that you see WinCo doing? They started limiting the number of customers inside the store a few weeks ago which was before anyone else was doing that. Costco started doing it soon after WinCo did and I think in both cases it was due to overcrowding, not to try to promote social distancing. The WinCo deli/bakery employees have been wearing masks while preparing product since early February.

Where have you seen anyone doing anything on self checkout? The only place I've seen self checkout cleaned between customers was at a ghost town type Target where they didn't even have steady customers at the one open checkstand and 4 self checkouts. I'd like to see what they are doing when it is busier.

I have used self checkouts at multiple Save Marts, Food Maxx, Raleys, Wal Mart, CVS, WinCo, and Smiths in the past month and I have not seen anyone cleaning anything. I really wish someone would be cleaning, but I am not seeing it. Some of the units look visibly dirty. I will not put my items down on these self checkouts before paying- scan and go straight into the plastic bag. In a CA Store luckily I have had only 2-3 item type purchases, where they are still f-ing around charging a 10 cent bag fee and still letting people bring reusable bags into the store (looking at you Safeway and Raleys in Lake Tahoe), I will scan the item and put it back in my hands vs. down on the surface of the terminal. Maybe the full service cashier doesn't charge for bags but the self checkout still does.

I did purchase at Whole Foods and this was in CA and that was interesting. Reusable bags are not allowed inside (employee at door will not let you bring them in) and paper bags are being given with no fee. Also the employee at the door offered me a cart she told me she "just cleaned off." When I paid there was a line and you could not put your items on the belt until the customer behind you was completely done paying. The cashier told me to wait and she cleaned off the belt, bagging area, scanner, and even pinpad before calling me forward to unload my transaction.

[babs]

Winco seems to be doing the least. I went through their self-checkout and no one was cleaning anything.

What else is the "least" that you see WinCo doing? They started limiting the number of customers inside the store a few weeks ago which was before anyone else was doing that. Costco started doing it soon after WinCo did and I think in both cases it was due to overcrowding, not to try to promote social distancing. The WinCo deli/bakery employees have been wearing masks while preparing product since early February.

Where have you seen anyone doing anything on self checkout? The only place I've seen self checkout cleaned between customers was at a ghost town type Target where they didn't even have steady customers at the one open checkstand and 4 self checkouts. I'd like to see what they are doing when it is busier.

I have used self checkouts at multiple Save Marts, Food Maxx, Raleys, Wal Mart, CVS, WinCo, and Smiths in the past month and I have not seen anyone cleaning anything. I really wish someone would be cleaning, but I am not seeing it. Some of the units look visibly dirty. I will not put my items down on these self checkouts before paying- scan and go straight into the plastic bag. In a CA Store luckily I have had only 2-3 item type purchases, where they are still f-ing around charging a 10 cent bag fee and still letting people bring reusable bags into the store (looking at you Safeway and Raleys in Lake Tahoe), I will scan the item and put it back in my hands vs. down on the surface of the terminal. Maybe the full service cashier doesn't charge for bags but the self checkout still does.

I did purchase at Whole Foods and this was in CA and that was interesting. Reusable bags are not allowed inside (employee at door will not let you bring them in) and paper bags are being given with no fee. Also the employee at the door offered me a cart she told me she "just cleaned off." When I paid there was a line and you could not put your items on the belt until the customer behind you was completely done paying. The cashier told me to wait and she cleaned off the belt, bagging area, scanner, and even pinpad before calling me forward to unload my transaction.

I was at Winco last weekend and there were not limiting the number of people in the store. It was packed, and there was zero social distancing going on. Your experience must have been limited to a specific store.

At Fred Meyer, the clerk at self-checkout was making people wait between as she wiped down the self-checkout stand before a new customer approached. At Winco, the clerk was just sitting there. I looked at him to see if was doing any cleaning and he just sat there and smiled. On my way out, I told him he should be cleaning instead of sitting there but he ignored me. He really could careless. No wonder several employees in that store have come down with COVID with that attitude.

As is typical in retail, within the same chain some stores are well managed while others run by a management team that couldn't care.

[storewanderer]

I was at Winco last weekend and there were not limiting the number of people in the store. It was packed, and there was zero social distancing going on. Your experience must have been limited to a specific store.

At Fred Meyer, the clerk at self-checkout was making people wait between as she wiped down the self-checkout stand before a new customer approached. At Winco, the clerk was just sitting there. I looked at him to see if was doing any cleaning and he just sat there and smiled. On my way out, I told him he should be cleaning instead of sitting there but he ignored me. He really could careless. No wonder several employees in that store have come down with COVID with that attitude.

As is typical in retail, within the same chain some stores are well managed while others run by a management team that couldn't care.

It sounds like WinCo's management really dropped the ball up in that area. We will see what happens but knowing how WinCo does things I suspect some heads will roll.

I have heard similar reports of WinCo Stores in CA and TX limiting customers entering so I think that has been the guidance from their corporate. I am very surprised the OR Stores did not handle this better. But as you point out, multiple cases developed in those OR locations... WinCo is very risk-minded and typically very much on top of all of this sort of thing. Remember they are always under a microscope by the union who has tried for decades to get dirt on them regarding operations, sanitation, or anything they possibly can. WinCo has taken significant share from the union grocers.

I shopped at Smiths yesterday and the self checkout clerk (age 60's I estimate) had on a thick mask and gloves but was not cleaning anything. There were 6-7 other employees working on the front end or customer service and none had masks on, but a couple had gloves on. As for the self checkout, it was too busy just to go between the six terminals and do approvals at this particular time when a lot of large transactions were being run through self checkout and almost everyone had alcohol. To control customers who were waiting from stepping to the next available terminal, they would have needed two clerks at self checkout. I shopped at a different Smiths last weekend and that store has 8 self checkouts but for some reason only 4 were open and that clerk was just behind the podium the whole time and then came out when someone needed an approval; that employee age 20's was not wearing any mask, gloves, or anything else. At that particular time most transactions were small and just going through and not requiring any help from the employee.

[reymann]

from what i've seen as of right now save mart is doing the least in terms of social distancing. they are not doing much yet as in terms of one way aisles and one in and one out. granted most of the save marts in fresno are not high volume stores.