Though Covid-19 is keeping many people in their homes, there is still a need for groceries. Grocery store visits may be the only interactions many have with strangers, and it is essential that people feel safe in these stores. So I visited four stores in Lancaster to learn first hand how they were handling the outbreak. 

Whole foods

 At Whole Foods there was a person waiting at the door regulating how many people came in and out, but she did not instruct us on anything. While walking around, I saw that each aisle had one direction. They traded back and forth like our city streets. When I was walking up an aisle a Whole Foods team member misdirected us, and did not keep the appropriate distance from us. The store eliminated bulk bins with scoops, but still had their gravity feed bulk bins. All self-serving food bars are closed and all seating areas are closed. There were markings on the ground to allow for social distancing. When I was going up to pay a staff member almost walked into me and I had to move out of her way; the woman did not keep proper distance. I saw no one cleaning through the store, but the cashier did clean before and after us.

Wegmans 

Wegmans had people standing outside watching people come in, it was not clear what they were doing. When I walked in there was hand sanitizer and there was a sign that asked everyone who came into the store to use it. There were spots on the ground to show the proper distance consumers should be from each other. The store had plenty of signs telling people what to do. Wegmans asked people to wear masks and maintain 6ft of distance among each other. I noticed that several employees were not social distancing among themselves. I also saw at least three, if not more, staff members not wearing their masks properly: for two of them, you could see their mouth and nose and others’ noses were visible. I did not see anyone wiping down carts or fridge door handles, but they did wipe down the entire check out. Wegmans had their cafe and pizza shop open, and they had two doors, one to exit and one to enter. Overall I thought they did a decent job, but the employees wearing their masks improperly made me slightly uncomfortable.

Giant

Giant had two people that were at the entrance, and they were actively keeping track of how many people were in their store. Giant had signs telling people what to do and what they were doing to keep people safe. Their entrance had one side for entering and one side for exiting. While walking in the store I did not notice any employees wearing masks improperly and they all seemed to understand the 6ft distacinacing rules. There were also lines on the floor near the checkout to keep people apart. The person that checked us out did not wipe down the checkout area before or after us, but did have cleaning products at the register. The credit card machine looked a little dirty to me because it had a weird plastic covering, but the plastic is a difficult material to clean and looked like it had been there for days. In conclusion Giant did okay social distancing, but not with cleaning. 

Weis

Weis had their entrance split up into two sections to keep people separate. There was a person at the front with a tablet that allowed them to keep an accurate count of who was in the store. They also had their self-serve food service closed, but their deli and bakery was open, as was in the other stores. When I was walking around I did not see anyone cleaning fridge handles or anything that many people touch. All the staff members I saw had their masks on correctly and seemed to understand social distancing. All of their seating was closed to limit the congregation of people. When I checked out we paid in their beer cafe so it was slightly different, but besides that, the cashier did not clean before or after us. It doesn’t matter which part of the store it is and how often people shop in that spot; they should still wipe it down often. The other register area had markings on the ground for where to stand and there was a person directing them. The other checkouts looked like they were cleaned between customers, because the area looked freshly cleaned before the next customer. 

I did not see any carts cleaned at any of the stores, nor did I see people cleaning fridge doors or other commonly touched things. All the stores also had sneeze guards to protect customers and employees. So please be safe when you are shopping for groceries. Wash your hands, do not touch your face, and be sure to look out for yourself.