Aldi stores are taking safety seriously and rolling out new precautionary measures in their stores, effective immediately
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we are all thinking about how to grocery shop for our families in the safest possible way
Stores in Champaign, Urbana and Savoy will all be seeing some new changes to store operation beginning Thursday, April 9. And shoppers will be grateful to the grocery store for taking additional measures to promote safe shopping, despite what may be very minor inconveniences during grocery shopping in the coming weeks.
The below information is based on an update Aldi issued on Wednesday, April 8. chambanamoms.com realizes that individual stores will be doing their best to roll out these new measures and also may have policies of their own they add on to the ones listed below for our local stores.
For more information on all Champaign-Urbana area grocery store hours/policies, including hours for vulnerable shoppers (such as senior citizens), check out the Champaign-Urbana Grocery Roundup article here.
Here’s a summary of the new policies at Aldi stores:
- Store occupancy limit – Shopper will be admitted into the store one at a time to ensure the roughly five people per 1,000 square feet occupancy limit is met. Any medical professionals, with appropriate identification, will be allowed to go to the front of the line. If a line forms outside of the store, shoppers will be asked to stand a minimum of six feet apart.
- Cart cleaning – An Aldi team member will be stationed outside of the door cleaning carts and keeping track of customers entering and exiting.
- Temporary one-way aisles – In-store signage will direct customers to follow the proper traffic pattern, allowing for safe social distancing throughout the shopping experience
- One shopper per family, when possible – Aldi writes, “We kindly ask customers to limit their shopping to one person per family. We recognize that may not be possible in certain circumstances and will make exceptions for any customer who needs to shop with children, or assist a vulnerable shopper.”
- Employee temperature checks – Aldi is beginning to take the temperatures of store and warehouse employees and asking them to complete brief health screening questions before reporting to work.
We have also heard reports of Aldi team members putting quarters in all the carts so that shoppers don’t have to touch that piece of the cart when they arrive to shop but we cannot confirm that’s an official store policy right now.
This latest update is an addition to earlier updates Aldi has issued in recent weeks, which included information about:
- Deploying Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) such as gloves to employees as supplies permit
- Discontinuing cart-to-cart- transfers at checkout, so that customers keep the same cart with them throughout the entire shopping experience
- Temporary panels installed at checkout lanes in some stores
- Hours for vulnerable customers from 8:30-9:30am on Tuesdays and Thursdays
- Intensified cleaning efforts
- Temporary wage increases for employees and increased scheduling flexibility
Have you seen any local stores going the extra mile to make grocery shopping a safe experience while the stay at home order is in place? Let us know with a quick email.
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