Seattle grocery stores adapt to new restrictions, capacity limits ahead of increased holiday demand
Nearly 10 months into the COVID-19 pandemic, most Seattleites have gotten used to the new etiquette of shopping at grocery stores: wear a mask, wait on social distancing markers, stay behind plexiglass barriers and follow one-way aisle signs.
But with new rollbacks on reopenings and statewide restrictions — including limiting capacity of grocery stores to 25% — going into effect Tuesday amid a fall surge of the virus, grocery stores across the state must again adapt their rules.
Many grocery store owners are saying that the new restrictions aren't significantly different to what they were doing before. In Phase 2 of Washington's Safe Start plan, capacity limits for grocery stores were at 30%.
To ensure capacity guidelines were followed, many grocery chains including the Kroger family deployed new technology to provide a real-time count of customers entering and exiting the store in April and have been using it since. Kroger also launched a contactless payment pilot in stores across Seattle, reducing the need to touch card scanners.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/seattle-grocery-stores-adapt-to-new-restrictions-capacity-limits-ahead-of-increased-holiday-demand/ar-BB1b6IbA?ocid=hplocalnews