How can grocery stores encourage social distancing without disrupting the flow of traffic?

The use of social distancing tools in essential businesses like grocery stores is necessary to keep employees and customers safe from becoming infected by the Covid-19 virus. Getting people in and out of the store as quick as possible is also needed in times like these where limitations on the number of people in stores has been established. However, trying to figure out where to place social distancing tools such as floor marking and wall signs can be a little difficult when concerned about potentially disrupting the flow of customer traffic.

There are a couple of things that stores and other essential businesses can do to combat traffic congestion within the establishment. These can be:

• Directing aisle traffic with arrow markings. One direction per aisle working its way around the store. This will help eliminate traffic jams within aisles and help keep social distancing well established.
• Using other floor marking to establish waiting spots for lines. These can be dots, footprints, X’s, etc.
• Having one large line for checkout where a designated waiting spot is enforced to then have employees at registers wave down the next person over. Each waiting spot should be at least six feet away from the others. This way opens up quite a bit of space for others still gathering items to be able to travel by at a safe distance.
• Adding restrictions on how many people are able to enter the store at a time will help with traffic within the establishment. It will keep the lines short within the store and prevent any sort of backups in the aisles.

These are only a few ideas that can greatly improve the efficiency at which the business is able to operate at during times like this. Keeping six feet away from others is imperative and should be taken into consideration while implementing more efficient strategies for relieving customer traffic.