CHICAGO — Nearly three-fourths of convenience-store retailers who responded to a CSP survey said they lifted face mask requirements in their stores.
This follows the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) guidance that vaccinated individuals no longer need to wear face masks to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. The CDC still recommends unvaccinated people wear face masks in most settings.
From May 19 to 26, 37 retailers shared their thoughts on face masks and more with CSP through an online survey. While 73% of respondents had already lifted mask restrictions in their stores, 16% were in the process of doing so, 5% said they were not dropping face mask restrictions and 5% said they hadn’t made a decision yet.
The main reason why retailers lifted the mask requirements was because they follow CDC and local guidelines, the survey showed. About 20% said consumers weren't following the mask policy anyway.
More than half of retailers said when customers provided feedback about masks, they have wanted the requirements dropped.
When it comes to other pandemic-related problems, most respondents said a lack of job applicants was the longest-lasting issue they’re having from COVID-19 shutdowns. Seventy-six percent of respondents said this was their longest-lasting issue, while 11% said slow store traffic, 8% said slow return of customers to foodservice and 3% said fuel sales being stagnant. One retailer noted seeing a slow return of customers especially in the morning daypart, from about 5 to 11 a.m.
Overall, store traffic is the same or better than last year. About 54% said store traffic is significantly better than last year, while 27% said it is slowly improving, 16% said it is about the same and 3% said it is worse.
There are some changes implemented amid the pandemic that retailers expect to stay.
When respondents could chose more than one answer, 64% said more frequent store sanitizing will stay and half said delivery and curbside pickup will remain. Following those were plastic shields at checkout (44%), carrying more grocery items and larger pack sizes (31%), requiring employees to wear masks (25%), halting self-serve operations (11%) and the way they go about mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and new builds (8%).