Kohl’s Corp. is going to the next phase.
After opening this week in Arkansas, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Utah, the retailer said it would turn the lights back on in 10 more states on Monday, getting a quarter of its more than 1,100 stores back up and running following a complete brick-and-mortar coronavirus shutdown.
Kohl’s will be reopening all its stores in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, and Texas as well as most of its locations in Florida and Tennessee.
The stores will be open for limited hours with social distancing measures and extra cleaning procedures.
Michelle Gass, chief executive officer, said: “As we all adjust to a new normal, we will continue to provide the easy and efficient store experience that Kohl’s customers love, while implementing many new rigorous procedures that prioritize the safety of our associates and customers. We are taking an informed, measured approach based on a number of factors to reopen our stores on a phased timeline.”
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Kohl’s is part of a wave of retailers reopening.
DSW stores have begun to reopen across the country. In the first week of May, the company expected to reopen almost 200 stores in the U.S. and Canada.
Designer Brands, parent company of DSW and Camuto Group, has implemented several procedures in-store, including “contact-free” shopping by limiting transactions to credit, debit or gift cards only; designating special shopping hours for senior citizens and other at-risk customers, and designating merchandise try-on areas.
Other initiatives include providing ongoing training for associates regarding store cleanliness and customer interaction; monitoring associates’ temperatures as they arrive for work; posting associates at store entrances to monitor customer entry and exit to minimize traffic in stores; installing sanitation stations at the front of the stores, including hand sanitizer and gloves for customers, and posting storewide reminders to remain six feet from others and directional signage limiting traffic flow within the aisles to one way.
DSW is also adding health shields at registers, wiping down between customer interactions at registers and implementing a process for sanitizing merchandise, as well as a separate protocol for sanitizing returned merchandise.