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NEW YORK — Mass retailers are devising blueprints for how to reopen for business as states rescind shelter-in-place orders issued to slow the transmission of the new coronavirus. While much of the work is geared toward specifying steps stores can take to protect the health of consumers and employees, there’s also a recognition that the pandemic is accelerating changes already set in motion.
“Before this crisis, we were already seeing robust adoption of online pickup and delivery in our business,” Doug McMillon, president and chief executive officer of Walmart, wrote in a May 6 post on the company’s website titled “How the Pandemic Will Change the Retail Industry and the World.” McMillon continued, “My feeling is that once this crisis is more under control, people will have seen the benefits of that service and will likely continue to use it. It will become part of the new normal.”
Meanwhile, Kroger Co. has issued a road map intended to help businesses safely reopen while the coronavirus pandemic persists.
The retailer last month published the first installment of “Sharing What We’ve Learned” to offer “actionable recommendations” for retailers, restaurants, food service companies, manufacturers, logistics and distribution centers, and other industries to consider as they start crafting plans for safe work environments.
The blueprint reflects what Kroger learned over a six-week period in safeguarding its associates, customers and communities, as well as what it has picked up through interaction with business leaders in other countries hard hit by the pandemic, including Italy, Singapore and China.
“As an essential business, we have led with our purpose — to feed the human spirit — and have taken extensive measures across our footprint to safeguard our associates, customers and supply chain,” says Rodney McMullen, Kroger’s chairman and CEO. “We are sharing what we’ve learned to help businesses begin to reopen safely and in sync with their respective state plans.”
To reopen the nation successfully and to suppress future COVID-19 outbreaks, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores is urging government actions supporting three objectives crucial for the health of all Americans, and especially for those left behind economically and medically. These actions relate directly to testing, contact tracing and vaccines or treatments.
The national organization representing 40,000 traditional, grocery and mass retail pharmacies, with 155,000 pharmacists, lists these steps in report titled “Pharmacies: A Vital Partner in Reopening America.” The steps support these key objectives:
• Maximize rapid COVID-19 testing operations across all platforms and venues.
• Support public health surveillance and related contact tracing efforts.
• Prepare now: accelerate access to forthcoming COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.
“This paper outlines three key operational considerations for the Trump administration, Congress and governors as they develop recovery plans aimed at unlocking the national economy and local economies while still protecting the health of communities,” NACDS says in the report. “As states consider future actions, thought leaders should strive toward uniformity to the greatest extent possible, as doing so allows for more seamless participation from private sector partners, especially those operating across multiple states.”
McMillon sees the pandemic as kick-starting a new appreciation for frontline retail workers — “tens of thousands of people we might not normally think of as heroes,” he said. “They wear a very different uniform. They work at retailers and grocers of all sizes in towns and neighborhoods across the country. We’ve come to expect them to be there in a way we never have before, and they have risen to the occasion.”
