CROSBY - A undercover journalist of NNB News, revisited the Crosby Walmart located at 14215 FM 2100. He was hoping to find social distancing and some type of enforcement of the posted guidelines throughout the retail giant.
This is the actual report from our undercover journalist:
1: I entered the north end of the store like a normal customer, no Walmart employee was near the front door in the lobby, however, found an employee near the entrance in the store with no iPad to keep the count of customers in the store;
2: I needed a basket because I needed to do some shopping for the family;
3: No sanitizer or wipes were available. I found the hand sanitizer dispenser opened and empty. The wipe dispenser was empty;
4: I walked around the general merchandise side of the store, then decided to go in the back of the store, to the food section of the store; and
5: I saw some customers complying with the guidelines and following the one-way traffic down the aisles, but I found some customers not able to comply with the one-way traffic down the aisles.
I approach an assistant manager about the situation. He was very snobbish and not pleasant to talk to when questioned about the issue. He said; "I can't do anything about the issue. The signs are not enforceable." The undercover journalist said; "he looked like he was getting pissed off when he was questioned about the issue."
NNB News has received an statement from the corporate office; “We appreciate this being brought to our attention and have reemphasized our standards and expectations with store leadership. Our associates will continue encouraging customers to be mindful of one another during this unprecedented time and adhere to company and community guidelines and recommendations within our stores. Maintaining customer and associate safety remains our top priority.”
When the undercover journalist went to the front of the store to check out, he saw the customers following the 6ft rule. The undercover journalist used the food area front entrance to exit the store. There he saw a employee keeping the count of the customers in the store via iPad, and another employee in the lobby of the store checking receipts.
In a Walmart Facebook Post in it's official facebook page:
Attention Customers,
Beginning April 23rd (Thursday) our facility will be going to One-way Aisles. One-way aisles are designed to increase social distancing and give customers more space on each aisle. There will be floor decals in place to help indicate the direct traffic flow. You will find green "Shop This Way" decals indicating the entrances of each aisle. You will find red "Do Not Shop This Way" decals to tell opposing traffic not to enter the aisle.
On April 3, 2020, Walmart did put out a press release that is currently still in effect company-wide - click here to read the press release or you can read the release below:
"In this taxing and uncertain time, our associates have gone above and beyond to help Americans get the food, medicine and supplies they need.
We care deeply about our associates’ health and well-being, and in recent weeks we’ve taken steps such as expanding our paid leave policies; closing our stores overnight for cleanings and restocking; installing sneeze guards and social distance markers in stores; beginning temperature checks; and starting to make gloves and masks available to associates who want them.
While many of our customers have been following the advice of the medical community regarding social distancing and safety, we have been concerned to still see some behaviors in our stores that put undue risk on our people. We want to encourage customers to bring the fewest number of people per family necessary to shop, allow for space with other customers while shopping, and practice social distancing while waiting in lines. We’re also seeing states and municipalities set varying policies regarding crowd control – which has created some confusion regarding shopping.
To promote health, safety and consistency for our associates and customers in this environment, we’re taking some further steps for our U.S. stores:
Regulating Store Entry
Starting Saturday, we will limit the number of customers who can be in a store at once. Stores will now allow no more than five customers for each 1,000 square feet at a given time, roughly 20 percent of a store’s capacity.
To manage this restriction, the associates at a store will mark a queue at a single-entry door (in most cases the Grocery entrance) and direct arriving customers there, where they will be admitted one-by-one and counted. Associates and signage will remind customers of the importance of social distancing while they’re waiting to enter a store – especially before it opens in the morning.
Once a store reaches its capacity, customers will be admitted inside on a “1-out-1-in” basis.
Shopping Inside the Store
We’ll also institute one-way movement through our aisles next week in a number of our stores, using floor markers and direction from associates. We expect this to help more customers avoid coming into close contact with others as they shop.
We’ll continue to put signage inside our stores to remind customers of the need to maintain social distancing – especially in lines. And once customers check out, they will be directed to exit through a different door than they entered, which should help lessen the instances of people closely passing each other.
We always want people to feel welcome at Walmart, and we know that in ordinary times a store is a gathering place for members of a community to connect and socialize. We look forward to the time when that is again the case; however, we now want to prioritize health and safety by encouraging customers to do their shopping at a distance from others, then head home.
As the COVID-19 situation continues to develop, our leaders and operations teams will continue to listen to advice from medical experts, associates and customers, and consider how we can best serve people while helping slow the spread of the virus. The health and safety of our associates and customers is what matters the most."
Walmart did put the one-way shopping procedure into practice. However, in our revisit today in the Crosby store, the practice was thrown out of the retail giant store according to the assistant manager of that location.
We're planning to revisit the store in the near future to see if there were any changes.
NOTICE: We do not release any names of our undercover journalist that is contracted with NNB News.
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