N.L. liquor stores will reopen at Alert Level 3

Newfoundland Labrador Liquor Corporation stores will go from take-out to walk-in as early as June 8, but that doesn’t mean they will be completely returning to what had been normal operations.

NLC says it plans to reopen its corporate and satellite stores, pending the province getting to Alert Level 3 in terms of provincial COVID-19 restrictions. Given the timing pattern of the alerts, the earliest Level 3 can be attained is June 8.

Whenever the reopenings take place, there will be limitations on the number of customers in stores at one time, restriction of access to adjoining stores and of course, the physical distancing that has become norm in retail settings.

Full details will become available online (at nlliquor.com) as June 8 approaches, but the NLC has already determined some guidelines and changes for when stores reopen.

That includes the end of the phone ordering. Since NLC stores closed in March, customers have been placing orders by phone or online and picking up their purchases at store locations. But while phone orders will not be accepted once the reopenings occur, online orders will continue, an indication online purchasing might become a permanent part of NLC’S retail sales program.

Here are some other points in an NLC news release on the reopening plans:

• Limits will be placed on the number of customers accessing premises at any one time. The numbers will be based on store size, but the average is expected to be about 10 people per store.

• Physical distancing will be promoted and encouraged in-store.

• All surfaces that are in contact with customers and staff will be sanitized regularly as part of enhanced cleaning protocols.

• Cross-access doors to adjoining retail spaces (Sobeys and Dominion stores, for example) will remain closed and will be subject to security.

• In St. John’s, the Queen Street location will reopen. So will satellite locations at Lake Avenue and Newfoundland Drive in the provincial capital and in Clarenville, Corner Brook and Centennial Square, Mount Pearl.

• Cash payments will once again be accepted at all locations.

FILE PHOTO Walk-in customers will be allowed into NLC stores — with continued restrictions — in the province once authorities move to health Alert Level 3.