Best Buy Announces Most Stores Will Reopen To In-Store Shopping Soon
As retailers, restaurants, and other businesses are being given the green light to resume in-business interactions with customers, Minnesota-based Best Buy is making adjustments to their COVID-19 operating policy starting next week.
Through much of the pandemic, Best Buy has provided service via online purchase, with the option for curbside pick-up for many items. They also added the option to set up an appointment for an in-store consultation to limit the number of people in the store while also being able to get questions answered about a product before purchasing. The tech retailer announced in a statement on June 9 that they will open most of their retail locations again soon to appointment-free in-store shopping.
The information from the corporate headquarters stated that more than 800 of their locations across the country will allow in-store shopping without an appointment starting Monday, June 15. This will be offered in tandem with the already-existing contactless curbside pickup option and appointments for in-store consultations, if you'd prefer to shop that way.
While the doors will reopen to customers without an appointment on the 15th, there will be a number of safety protocols in place. Among them, stores will maintain a self-imposed limit of 25% capacity at any given time. The release from the company says this works out to about 60 customers at a time, depending on the size of the store. If a store reaches that limit, customers will be asked to wait in a line outside.
Additional measures like shields at cash registers, additional cleaning, signage and other measures to encourage social distancing, and other steps will be implemented to protect employees and customers.
The company also points out that this will bring back more than 9,000 furloughed employees across the country as the store reopenings will require additional staff beyond the limited number needed to operate the curbside/appointment shopping system the retailer had previously employed.
You can see the full statement about the reopenings, emphasis on health and safety, and other information from Best Buy here.