Raleigh area retail reopens: How well are stores and shoppers practicing COVID safety?

North Carolina’s Phase One reopening plan is intended to be the first step in a gentle transition toward the resumption of life outside our homes.

But is that what’s happening?

The Triangle retail landscape had a bit of an “all or nothing feel” on the first weekend after Phase One began on May 8. Some stores were packed, some stores were sparsely inhabited, and some stores opted not to reopen at all.

Local businesses such as DECO and Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh are taking a slower approach to reopening, either through virtual shopping or shopping by appointment. And many large national retailers at Raleigh’s Crabtree Valley Mall remain closed, such as Macy’s and Banana Republic.

But after being closed for nearly two months, other businesses were eager to greet customers.

“We’re a small locally owned business, and we’re pretty far in debt right now because of this,” said Eli Brightbill, owner of Lyons’ General Store, a gift shop and apparel store inside Crabtree mall.

The News & Observer took a snapshot of how businesses — and patrons — are handling their extra taste of freedom. Members of our newsroom visited nearly 50 businesses in the Triangle over a three-day period, Saturday through Monday (May 9-11).

We looked at the size of the crowds at stores and at whether the customers and employees practiced safe social distancing measures. We noted approximately how many customers or employees wore masks. We checked to see whether the stores had implemented safety measures, such as distancing signage, plexiglass barriers at checkout stands and readily available hand sanitizer or cleaning supplies.

At almost every store — even at stores with every suggested safety measure in place — we spotted physical distancing problems. In most cases, the customers, not the employees, were the problems.

Here’s what we found.

Are people wearing masks?

The CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public to protect the wearer and those around them from the spread of COVID-19. Many businesses, such as Whole Foods and Costco, require customers to wear masks before entering stores. The city of Durham has extended an order that requires wearing face coverings in public.

At the stores we visited, the overwhelming majority of employees wore some sort of face covering, even if they weren’t always wearing it correctly. In at least two instances, employees wore masks under their noses for the entire time we observed them.

Overall, about 80% of the stores we visited had either more than half or all employees wearing masks, with many stores hitting the 100% participation mark.

Those with 100% mask compliance run the gamut from big box stores and grocery stores to boutiques: ABC store, Bed Bath & Beyond, Belk, Boulted Bread, Buckles, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Durham Farmer’s Market, Epilogue, Fleet Feet, Five Below, Gamers Armory, Goodwill, Logan’s Trading Company, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Michael’s Crafts, Morgan Imports, Omega Sports, Publix, Roses, Target, Ultimate Comics, Vaguely Remembered, Walgreens, Weaver Street Market and Whole Foods.

Customers were a different matter.

At about half of the stores we visited, only half or fewer than half of the customers wore masks.

At an ABC store in Apex, two customers wore masks hanging off of one ear, like an earring. And while all employees at Lowe’s Home Improvement Store wore masks, fewer than half of the customers did.

Of the two employees and two customers inside Tin Roof Teas when we visited the Cameron Village store on Saturday, May 9, none wore masks.

At TJ Maxx in Knightdale on Sunday, shopper Beverly Brown did not wear a mask. “Yeah, we are kind of past the point of concern,” she said. “We were really scared and cautious at first, but ... you have to live life and not live life in fear. We weren’t afraid to come out.”

At a Dick’s Sporting Goods store in Durham on Sunday, every customer except for one wore a mask while we were there.

And at a very busy Logan’s Trading Company in Raleigh on Saturday morning, every customer except for two wore masks. Unfortunately, we saw those two customers engaging with employees — and occasionally, other customers — for extended periods of time.

We also had varying experiences at different locations of the same chain store.

For instance, while all or most employees at the Walmart locations we visited in Durham, Garner and Hillsborough wore masks, a Fuquay-Varina Walmart had both employee and customer participation at less than half. At a Hillsborough Walmart, nearly all employees wore masks, but a few left their noses exposed.

Meanwhile, at Leith Honda in Raleigh, employees not wearing masks (or gloves) handled cars, touched steering wheels and gave customers pens to sign paperwork.

Heed the signs, keep it clean

Nearly every store visited had posted signs reminding shoppers about social distancing, or markings on the floor telling people where to stand while waiting in lines. This is good, because this is one of the requirements under Gov. Roy Cooper’s executive order for stores to be open right now.

Many stores also had some sort of plexiglass shield at the checkout to provide a barrier between employees and cashiers.

Omega Sports in Raleigh’s North Hills shopping center opened Saturday morning for the first time in six weeks, and had signs posted at a sanitizing station at the store’s entrance advising customers to wait before entering, so that capacity limitations could be obeyed.

The store also had markings at the cash register and along the shoe wall, showing shoppers where to stand when browsing or seeking to try on shoes. The Fleet Feet running shoe store in Carrboro also enforced capacity limits and marked off floor space for trying on shoes.

Floor markings were not always obeyed at a U.S. Post Office in Raleigh on Saturday morning. The store posted signs in several places noting that a maximum of six customers would be allowed inside at a time, and taped spots on the floor, all six feet apart, were numbered. Still, some people stood in between the taped lines, and at times, more than six people crowded into the lobby.

Belk at Crabtree Valley Mall, which reopened on Monday, had distancing signs posted throughout the store, and made periodic announcements about distancing over the store PA system.

A sign at the Buckles store in Crabtree asked customers not to enter if they were not feeling well.

Most stores we visited also provided some sort of hand sanitizer or cart wipes upon entry or at cash registers, although we did encounter a Food Lion grocery store in Apex that was out of wipes.

Target stores visited in Cary and Garner had an employee wiping down the self-checkout stations in between transactions.

To cut down on potential virus spread at high-touch areas, Logan’s Trading Company had cashiers completing keypad transactions for customers with a stylus, ensuring a no-touch payment process.

Ultimate Comics in Cary asked customers to visit the restroom upon entry and wash their hands.

More people, more problems

Even when stores and shoppers get everything else right, failures seem to come when trying to keep a distance from each other.

As you might expect, the smaller the store — and the smaller the crowd — the more likely that proper distance can be kept. At larger stores with larger crowds, shoppers tended to bunch up more.

Lowe’s Home Improvement stores, among the busiest throughout the pandemic, have added many safety features since early April, including hand sanitizing stations inside the front door and distancing markings throughout.

But at the store visited in Garner on Sunday afternoon, our reporter noted that “customers, for the most part, take no precautions.” The aisles of the store were crowded and people congregated around popular items. Incidentally, fewer than half of the customers there wore masks.

Distancing problems were also noted at a Home Depot store in Hillsborough.

Our reporters noted no distancing issues at the much smaller Hudson’s Hardware in Garner, Ace Hardware in North Raleigh and Town & Country Hardware in Chapel Hill.

Thanks to distancing (and cleaning) rules, shoppers at Gamers Armory, a board and card gaming store in Cary, are getting a different experience now. Playing games while in the store is a big part of the Armory’s business, but all of the gaming tables were closed on Saturday.

The Durham Farmers’ Market on Saturday had a lighter crowd than the week before, and there were markings near individual vendor stands to keep those walking and those waiting in line separated.

At Ken’s Produce and Garden Center in Garner, most customers didn’t wear masks, but our shopper reports that “for the most part, they practiced social distancing and waited for people to move on before going to look at plants in the same area.”

But at all Walmart stores visited, there were instances where social distancing was not practiced. At a Walmart in Raleigh on Monday, all of the employees wore masks, but they also often stood close together while working. At this same Walmart, we saw customers in checkout lines get too close to people in front them, moving forward too soon to put items on the conveyor belt.

To shop, or stay in ‘hunker-down mode’?

The main thing we learned from our combined shopping experiences: your results may vary.

Some shopping excursions were stressful and felt unsafe, while others went smoothly. Sometimes employees and customers all seemed on the same page, sometimes it was like there was no pandemic happening at all.

One of the most efficient and stress-free shopping experiences from our test occurred at Bed, Bath & Beyond, which is currently only offering curbside pickup.

Our shopper placed an order online and drove to the Cary store. He called the store and gave his name, and was asked to pull up to the front door and pop his trunk. An employee wearing a mask, gloves and an orange vest brought the item out in a bag, checked the shopper’s ID and placed the item in the trunk.

“The encounter took about 10 seconds,” our shopper wrote.

Unfortunately, a non-News & Observer customer outside a North Raleigh Target store on Sunday summed up a lot of what we saw — and not just at Target, but at most places.

“I am concerned because some people are wearing masks, some people aren’t,” Alicia Lion said. “The six feet, they aren’t doing it. The way the store has been marked up with arrows, they aren’t following that, so it raises eyebrows.

“But because I’m seeing people not practicing safety, I’m going back in hunker down-mode a little bit longer.”

Staff writers Jonathan M. Alexander, Jessica Banov, Virginia Bridges, Will Doran, Zachary Eanes, Jane Elizabeth, Luke DeCock, Tammy Grubb, Dave Hendrickson, T. Keung Hui, Ethan Hyman, Drew Jackson, Anna Johnson, Dan Kane, Kate Murphy, Thad Ogburn, Jonas Pope IV, Martha Quillin, Aaron Sanchez-Guerra, Jordan Schrader, Josh Shaffer, Richard Stradling and Robert Willett contributed to this report.

This story was originally published May 15, 2020 at 1:10 PM.