Local grocers to take it slow even with higher occupancy limits

As 16 counties in southwestern and central Pennsylvania move into the green phase of Gov. Tom Wolf’s COVID-19 reopening plan on Friday, local retailers can increase their instore occupancy levels from 50% to 75% of their fire code allowances.

Some stores, such as Shop ’n Save and Target, plan to meet that level soon, but several grocery stores in the area aren’t raring to bump up their in-store head counts just yet. And for some Allegheny County stores, online ordering and curbside pickup have shored up business enough to keep occupancy limits where they are.

Giant Eagle supermarkets in the Pittsburgh area haven’t even hit 50% of fire code allowances. They’ve capped at 30% occupancy, and that won’t change any time soon, said spokesperson Dick Roberts.

Like some other retailers, O’Hara-based Giant Eagle uses instore tech to track how many guests are in the building at a time, and it has employees enforce a onein, one-out policy for shoppers whenever the limit is reached.

Walmart locations are sticking with 20% occupancy levels. Associates at each entrance keep count of those entering and exiting.

For some of the familyowned stores in the Strip District, limiting occupants is more art than science.

Pennsylvania Macaroni Co. owner David Sunseri said that store’s concierge just locks the front door when he notices the store “getting a little busy.”

Meanwhile, Penn Mac employees hand out gloves to customers and sanitize shopping baskets. Employees take temperatures in the morning. “I don’t think this Friday affects me at all. The only way it’ll benefit me is more people on the streets,” Mr. Sunseri said.

Tougher than tracking occupancy levels is enforcing mask policies.

“A lot of people come in with a mask and just bring it down to their chin. They are tired of it,” Mr. Sunseri said.

Ashley Wilson works security shifts on Wednesdays and Thursdays at Wholey’s Fish Market in the Strip. She enforces the store’s two-peopleper-party rule at the door, but her main task is doing regular store walkarounds to make sure customers are still wearing their masks while they shop.

“I can tell by the way they look when they come in who don’t really wanna wear one, so I go in and check and see if they took it off,” she said. “Most of the time, I’m right.”

In some cases, social distancing guidelines have made for pleasant in-store experiences. Nick Mancini Hartner, owner of Mancini’s Bread Co., has enjoyed the flow of business during Pennsylvania’s yellow phase.

The bakery’s four-customer in-store limit has led to faster transaction times, and impatient visitors are “few and far between,” he said.

Although Pennsylvania will allow his bakery a two-person increase starting Friday, Mr. Hartner said the four-person limit will likely last through the green phase. In fact, for in-store health measures, such as Plexiglass barriers, distance markers and masks, Mr. Hartner wants to “keep as many as society will tolerate” — even after the official guidelines fade.

“It’s a preferential place to shop with the mutual respect encouraged by social distancing,” he said.

Angela Qin manages the Strip District’s Lotus Food Co., a grocery store specializing in Asian products. Cashiers take hourly laps around the inside of the store to count customers. If they count 20, they ask incoming shoppers to wait at the door.

Ms. Qin said Lotus’ drivers have been delivering about 100 online orders a day to customers’ homes.

With delivery and curbside success, she wants to monitor coronavirus cases in the Pittsburgh area before making the jump to 75% occupancy levels. She, too, plans to keep the Plexiglass barriers post-pandemic, and hopes the coronavirus era will instill good hygiene habits for grocers and shoppers alike.

“This COVID-19 just let us learn something — learn how health is important to the community, to everyone,” Ms. Qin said.