Stores Returning to Regular Hours

[storewanderer]

What I want to know is why are stores, including Walmart still closing so early? I understand in areas where looting was happening or when it was harder to get stock and there was panic buying earlier in the pandemic. But exactly what are they doing with that extra time now? Just how many touch points do they have to sanitize each day after closing?

I get the feeling these early closures may just not have an end date. And I agree it's summer, surely people aren't going home for good at 8:30-9 PM every night, everywhere in the country.

Or is it more so to limit employees' risk of exposure to the virus?

I think it is a matter of compacting operating hours into times when the store is more productive. There has to be a certain level of traffic these companies want in their stores, and after a certain time it no longer makes time to be open. Competition has historically caused retailers to operate with much longer hours than common sense would dictate, because if they don't open up at 9 or 10 PM, some competitor will and they will take share.

Productivity would probably have most retailers operating 11 AM to 8 PM. Isn't that about what Aldi operates? About what the government commissary stores operate?

Wal Mart, got so comfortable with its competitive position, that they decided they could close at 8:30 PM for what, the past 4 months now? Given many of Wal Mart's competitors were closed all together in many states during much of this time, you were either going to get to Wal Mart on its terms when it was open or you weren't going to be buying those shorts, those toys, those electronics, or those sporting goods.

As a customer who does most of their shopping between the hours of 9 PM and 11 PM as I prefer less crowded stores, I certainly did not like these rules. But there were a number of times, I got over to Wal Mart at 8:10 PM in order to shop there for something. I did try Target (which is 10 minutes longer drive than Wal Mart for me) with its later hours first to 9 PM then to 10 PM a couple times but didn't find what I needed when I went to that poorly stocked store, so ended up having to go to Wal Mart the next day anyway and gave up on Target real fast early in the pandemic.

I'm not sure what all that enhanced cleaning being talked about is or was.

[CalItalian]

The only stores that I am aware of that have not returned to normal hours in SoCal, well one of them did and changed again, are Gelson's, Aldi and 99 Cent Only. Aldi returned to closing at 9 pm but now is back to 8 pm, 7 days a week (some stores still open 1/2 hour earlier than 9 am for seniors two days a week but it isn't reflected on the website). 99 Cents Only has never returned to their normal opening and closing hours of 7 am to 10 pm and remains 8 am to 8 pm. Gelson's closes one hour earlier than they did pre-Covid-19 at most locations.

[mbz321]

They closed down the auto centers, because they were very unprofitable. They require expensive auto workers and create all sorts of insurance liability. No one that I know has ever received timely or satisfactory service at their auto centers. They are nothing but trouble.

I believe that August 3 is when Walmart stores nationwide will expand their hours. The 8:30 closing time will change to 10 PM at most stores. Some may be open later if they are a high volume store in a low crime area.

Hey, I had some tires installed at Walmart on my not-so-new car('Douglas' tires, made in the U.S.A. by the Kelly division of Goodyear) and didn't have any issues, and at <$55 a tire, the price was hard to beat. (Of course I could have just taken the tires 'to go' and had them put on anywhere, but it was more convenient at the time). Where I am, the TLE's are few and far between. Not sure how certain stores have them, but almost none of them do.

And store hours are still showing a closing time as 8:30 in my area (Philadelphia region). I still don't get it, even going to 9 or 10 shouldn't be that much of a burden. These stores clearly aren't doing any 'extra cleaning'.

[Super S]

They closed down the auto centers, because they were very unprofitable. They require expensive auto workers and create all sorts of insurance liability. No one that I know has ever received timely or satisfactory service at their auto centers. They are nothing but trouble.

I believe that August 3 is when Walmart stores nationwide will expand their hours. The 8:30 closing time will change to 10 PM at most stores. Some may be open later if they are a high volume store in a low crime area.

Hey, I had some tires installed at Walmart on my not-so-new car('Douglas' tires, made in the U.S.A. by the Kelly division of Goodyear) and didn't have any issues, and at <$55 a tire, the price was hard to beat. (Of course I could have just taken the tires 'to go' and had them put on anywhere, but it was more convenient at the time). Where I am, the TLE's are few and far between. Not sure how certain stores have them, but almost none of them do.

And store hours are still showing a closing time as 8:30 in my area (Philadelphia region). I still don't get it, even going to 9 or 10 shouldn't be that much of a burden. These stores clearly aren't doing any 'extra cleaning'.

I have used Walmart's Auto Centers in a pinch a few times and didn't have any issues, but took in to account the type of operation it was. With that said, they seem to be scaling these back, eliminating them during store expansions, and many new locations not including them depending on store size.

I have also noticed that while many stores are relaxing social distancing, Walmart is still actively limiting customers entering the stores and seems to be taking this a little more seriously. I have to wonder though if shoplifting has gone down with the presence of security guards at the door.

[Alpha8472]

Hours have not yet been updated, but most Walmart stores are closing at 10 PM.

[storewanderer]

Wal Mart in Reno is now closing at 10 PM. Despite the website not being updated and signs on the door that still say they close at 8:30, the entry doors were wide open with an employee standing out front waiving inside to cars that were coming up to see if the store was open.

So they started to close at 10 PM on Saturday night according to the employee.

However inside the store was sort of odd. This was after 8:30 PM. They had no checkstands open other than self checkout. Even the tobacco register was closed. This is the first time I have ever seen a Wal Mart that is self checkout only, usually that tobacco register was always opened as an alternative before.

Was great to be able to buy Lysol Spray, Lysol Wipes, Hand Sanitizer, Rubbing Alcohol from just stocked shelves.

[Alpha8472]

The best time to get sought after items is late at night after the truck arrives and the employees unload the truck.

The Walmart website is notorious for not being updated for long periods of time regarding exact store hours.

The corporate office demands that the store open until 10 PM, but the corporate office also limits the number of employee work hours that each store gets. This causes a problem since you have no work hours for cashiers. The only option is go entirely to self checkout.

There is one Walmart store that is entirely self checkout all the time. The self checkout area is huge and looks very spacious. This format would never work in a high theft low income area. People simply are not honest enough. There would be so much theft the store would be closed down by the corporate office.

https://corporate.walmart.com/newsroom/ ... e-register

I still think that the self checkout machines are the dirtiest things in the store. You would need to bring disinfecting wipes with you to clean that entire dirty area.

[Alpha8472]

I visited several Walmarts and it appears that the low volume Neighborhood Markets are still closing at 8:30 PM. The regular Walmart stores are closing at 10 PM now.

What customers are complaining about is the Money Center closing at 6 PM. You see all sorts of angry customers complaining that the Money Center closes so early. Why do so many people go to the Money Center at Walmart? Do these people not have banks? Why do so many people send thousands of dollars to people via Walmart? Target does not have money transferring or check cashing.

[klkla]

Why do so many people go to the Money Center at Walmart? Do these people not have banks?

Bingo. We have a winner.

It was originally started IIRC for many of their employees that are so poor they don't qualify for or can't afford standard bank accounts.

[storewanderer]

Why do so many people go to the Money Center at Walmart? Do these people not have banks?

Bingo. We have a winner.

It was originally started IIRC for many of their employees that are so poor they don't qualify for or can't afford standard bank accounts.

Kroger has also worked hard to build a "money services" business. In most of the Smiths in my area, that department is pretty busy; it almost always has a customer, sometimes a line.

One issue with the Wal Mart Money Center is it also involves the refund desk. So you don't quite know what type of transaction is going on there. For instance a complicated or fraudulent return holding up the flow, while 4 people are in line with simple money order purchase transactions behind. I think I have seen some Wal Marts where the money center is separate from the refund desk.