Walmart Passes Pop Quiz, Told To Spread People Out

Walmart passed a surprise test issued by the city, though some shoppers remain wary of their safety at the superstore.

The pop quiz took place Sunday afternoon. City Health Director Maritza Bond administered it.

Bond took action after receiving a complaint from a citizen that the Foxon Boulevard store was again violating Covid-19 safety restrictions. The complainant Facetimed live video to Bond showing clusters of shoppers packed close to each other by the cash register and the food/supermarket area.

Since the pandemic began, Bond has been after Walmart to follow the rules. Frustrated by its noncompliance, she issued the store a 72-hour deadline earlier this month to institute safety protocols and abide by pandemic public-health guidelines, or get shut down. (Read about that here.) The store complied, put in new plans, and remained open. Bond promised to keep watching.

So she headed over to the store late Sunday afternoon to checkout the complaint. She counted around 280 shoppers inside. She checked in with the manager, who noted that under state guidelines, the superstore can have up to 800 people inside even under reduced-occupancy guidelines.

Bond noticed that customers would get bunched up in spots, and that the store could do more to prevent that.

“They’re meeting their capacity requirements. But they need to work through internal traffic flow and internal signage,” she said.

The store’s management agreed to do that, she reported. Monday morning a city sanitarian checked in and found work underway to that end, Bond said.

“My overall goal is to ensure that this establishment is open for the public, because they’re an essential business, but that they’re adhering to safety standards, because they are right in the midst … of a hot spot,” Bond said.

Walmart management could not be reached for comment.

The Independent also checked out the store late Sunday afternoon. We too counted around 280 customers. The self-check out line nearly reached the store entrance, winding around multiple times. People on line were not social-distancing.

Customers said they feel they need to shop there, but also feel uneasy.

As shoppers entered and exited the store around 4:30 p.m., three workers collected shopping carts from around the parking lot. Two dozen were parked near the store entrance without being wiped down (despite a company commitment) for new shoppers to grab before entering . Those carts were all taken within five minute of being parked.

“They get lazy after hours,” stated shopper Helen Stratakes-Antonio, 66, who lives in the nearby Bella Vista senior complex. She said that she has seen workers stop sanitizing carts when the sun goes down. Stratakes-Antonio said at times staffers have yelled at her to move away from the front entrance when she attempts to clean her cart herself using the store-provided wipes.

Normally Stratakes-Antonio celebrates Thanksgiving with her daughter. This year she won’t, because her daughter tested positive for Covid-19. Stratakes-Antonio wore a mask, face shield, and disposable gloves while grocery shopping Sunday evening. She said she made sure to stay a shopping cart’s length away from everyone. She previously relied on her daughter to shop for her, until her daughter had to go into quarantine.

While shopping Sunday, Stratakes-Antonio said, she saw a number of shoppers ​“carelessly” forming big groups in aisles and failing to maintain six-foot distances while waiting in line.

Claire Levavau, 28 (pictured), shops biweekly for groceries. On Sunday she shopped extra for the Thanksgiving holiday. Levavau said she notices people mostly wearing their masks but not following the arrows indicating the shopping direction for each aisle.

Denisha Morrison, 35 (pictured) shopped for groceries with her 5 and 8‑year-old daughters. Morrison said she has limited her grocery shopping to once a month since the start of the pandemic. Only this month did decide it was safe enough to to take her kids shopping with her.

Wearing face masks has been stressful, Morrison said; it’s hard for her daughters to keep them on during entire shopping trips. ​“It’s just always so many people, it messes with my anxiety a lot even when just preparing to head here,” she said.