Best Buy will require customers to wear masks in its stores

07/15/2020 Business, Health


It is the latest masking mandate for customers announced by a major chain at a time when coronavirus cases across the country continue to rise.

Starbucks (SBUX) He said last week that he will require customers to wear face coats or masks at all of his 9,000 company-owned U.S. stores beginning Wednesday. Costco (COST) began demanding that its members wear masks in stores beginning in May.

The new Best Buy policy takes effect on Wednesday and applies to all of the company’s approximately 1,000 stores nationwide. It will provide facial covers to customers who don’t have one, and young children and customers who can’t wear a mask for health reasons can shop without one.

More than 3.3 million people have tested positive for coronavirus across the country, and more than 130,000 have died. Cases are increasing in much of the country, and many cities and states are imposing restrictions to contain new outbreaks, including mask requirements in public settings.
On Monday, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon told Bloomberg that a mandate that requires customers to wear masks in company stores is “something we have in mind.” At this time, Walmart customers must wear a mask before entering one of Walmart’s 3,700 locations “where ordered by a governor or someone else,” according to McMillon.

Industry groups and unions are also coming together around the mask requirements for customers.

Last week, the Retail Leaders Industry Association, an industry trade group, called on the nation’s governors to approve state mandates that require citizens to wear masks in public. The United States Food and Commercial Workers Union also urged government officials and business leaders to demand masks for customers in an advertisement over the weekend.

Although there is no federal mandate to wear a mask, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says everyone “should wear a cloth face covering when they have to go out in public.” The CDC said that “the face covers are meant to protect other people.”

Security guards risk their lives by asking customers to wear masks.
But most major retailers and grocery stores have hesitated to enact their own masks mandates for customers during the pandemic, in part for fear of antagonizing shoppers who refuse to use them. Retailers have said they are reluctant to put their employees in the position of enforcing mask requirements.
A security guard at a Family Dollar store in Michigan was shot dead in May after he told a customer to wear a mask, and in recent weeks, videos of confrontations between angry customers and employees over these rules have gone viral.

“Largely, many sales associates rarely receive training to enforce [mask requirements] And they’re certainly not paid to confront belligerent customers, “said Meegan Holland, vice president of the Michigan Retail Association. The group recently hosted webinars for companies on how to reduce mask confrontations.

The National Retail Federation, another trade group for the retail industry, has also given major retailers a “de-escalation” script to share with their employees if a customer tries to enter a store without a mask where the store or a local require it. measure.

The script includes tips such as being aware of clients’ body language, staying calm, and calling 911 if a client threatens violence.

A Best Buy representative said the company will have a “specially trained and designated employee at the front of the store to welcome customers, remind them of our new policy and provide them with a mask if they don’t have one.”

CNN’s Cristina Alesci and Jordan Valinsky contributed to this article.

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