04/28/2020
Retail Merchants Can Open 5 p.m. Thursday
5 p.m. Thursday is the time! A new health order for Alabama begins then and expires at 5 p.m. May 15.
"Let's get back to work," said Alabama Retail Association President Rick Brown. "The key to all of this is a safe shopping experience for your customers and employees."
Starting at 5 p.m. April 30, Alabama's retailers can welcome customers inside their businesses under the same 50% occupancy and health standards currently used by big-box stores. Stores can make decisions that are more limiting than what the state allows based on what is best for your employees and customers. The opening outlined today includes updates for employers, retailers and medical procedures. Restaurants and bars can continue to offer curbside, pickup and delivery. Close-contact services and entertainment venues are to remain closed, under the order linked below:
NEW STATE HEALTH ORDER
Order includes updates for employers, retail stores and medical procedures:
Staying the same: Restaurants, bars, breweries, close-contact services and entertainment venues
Key Provisions for Retail Merchants
Customer Limits: The maximum number of customers is 50% of the occupancy the state fire marshal allows in your building. Staff must be posted at store entrances and exits to enforce this requirement. Alabama Retail sought guidance from state officials for those who do not know your store's fire capacity. Click here to read state fire marshal letter on how to calculate occupancy for mercantile businesses. For example, if your store has 3,000-square-feet of retail space, you may have 25 occupants (employees and customers) in that space, based on the linked letter. This is half of the allowed occupancy of 50 occupants. (3,000 square feet divided by 60-square-feet per occupant).
Social Distancing: Employees and customers are to stay 6 feet apart.
Face Covering: Recommended for employees and customers.
Signage: In a conspicuous place, post the “emergency maximum occupancy rate.” Alabama Retail will get you a link to a printable poster by 5 p.m. Thursday.
Hygiene: Encourage washing hands frequently with soap and water or hand sanitizer, especially after touching frequently used items or surfaces.
Sanitation: Take reasonable steps to comply with guidelines on sanitation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“the CDC”) and the Alabama Department of Public Health. Regularly disinfect frequently used items and surfaces.
Doctors and Dentists Allowed to Operate
Effective 5 p.m. Thursday, dental, medical or surgical procedures may proceed unless the State Health Officer or his designee determines that performing such procedures, or any category of them (whether statewide or regionally), would unacceptably reduce access to personal protective equipment or other resources necessary to diagnose and treat COVID-19. (See medical procedures on Page 6 of the order)
Businesses to Operate As Is Until May 15
Restaurants, bars and breweries can continue to operate as they have been. (See Page 6).
Close-contact businesses including barber shops, hair salons, nail salons and tattoo parlors are to remain closed. Entertainment venues like bowling alleys and athletic facilities like gyms and spas also are to remain closed. (See Pages 4 and 5).
Alabama Retail will continue to advocate on your behalf with state officials.
More to Come
Alabama Retail will continue to keep you informed as the state's plan to reopen Alabama plays out. In the meantime, put this event on your calendar:
How to Retail in the Time of COVID-19
Register at link above for a 10 a.m. CST May 12 webinar
A complimentary presentation by Bob Phibbs, the "Retail Doctor"
brought to you by Alabama Retail and the Council of State Retail Associations
Refocus your retail plan to not only survive COVID-19, but succeed!
More details to come!
