CHICAGO – With the start of the holiday shopping season set to begin on Black Friday, retailers across the state are urging customers to support local businesses and abide by all state and local health guidelines. Embracing safe shopping practices, including wearing masks, maintaining six feet of distance from others, and abiding by occupancy guidelines, will help keep customers and workers safe, and allow retailers hit hard by the pandemic to continue serving their customers.
Since the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the retail industry has taken great lengths to create and implement new health and safety procedures to protect shoppers and employees. This includes creating special shopping hours for vulnerable communities, putting in place personal protective measures, enhanced sanitation procedures, and expanding delivery and curbside pickup. Further, the retail industry continues to work diligently to ensure that supply chains remain intact so consumers have access to everyday goods, food and medication.
Retailers remain dedicated to meeting the needs of their communities, including the demands of this unique holiday season. They are calling on all Illinois residents to abide by all state and local health guidelines to protect the public and help support retailers.
Safe shopping practices include:
- Wearing a mask while within retail establishments or utilizing pick-up or drive-thru;
- Maintaining a minimum of six feet at all times between other shoppers and employees;
- Abiding by capacity limits within stores;
- Patronizing your local retailers online when possible and/or taking advantage of curbside pickup, delivery, or drive-thru.
“The retail community is doing everything in its power to meet the demands of this holiday season while providing safe shopping experiences for customers and protecting their employees. While this holiday season will look different than previous years, retailers large and small will help fulfill holiday traditions and provide necessary goods and services as they always have. We want to remind everyone to wear masks and abide by social distancing practices while shopping, so everyone can remain healthy and enjoy the holidays,” said Rob Karr, president & CEO, Illinois Retail Merchants Association
As COVID-19 cases continue to rise, new Tier 3 mitigations put in place stricter capacity limits and restrictions on retailers of all types. The industry includes grocery, pharmacy, hardware, apparel stores, theaters, bowling alleys, convenience stores and restaurants, all of which have been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As both a major employer as well as the second largest revenue generator for state government and the largest for local governments, the continued success of the retail community is critical to the state’s overall economy and well-being.