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Walmart Joins Best Buy and Starbucks to Require Masks at All Stores

Will more retailers follow Starbucks, Best Buy, and Walmart?
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Francis Scialabba

· 3 min read

Retail news that keeps industry pros in the know

Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.

As U.S. coronavirus cases climb past 3 million, a few prominent retail brands will now require customers to wear face masks in all stores. Even in states where local governments haven’t banned bare faces.

  • Starting today, masks are mandatory at Starbucks’s U.S. company-owned cafés.
  • Best Buy also requires masks or face coverings at every U.S. store, effective today.
  • Walmart CEO Doug McMillon told Bloomberg on Monday the company was considering a nationwide mask mandate. Today, Walmart said the policy would go into effect next Monday at its 5,000+ U.S. stores.

They’re not the majority. So far, only ten large retail chains have a mandatory mask policy across their entire store fleet.

Pressure = on

Most retailers’ mask policies look like their size charts: inconsistent. The CDC strongly recommends wearing masks in public places to curb the spread of coronavirus. Still, retailers implemented patchwork requirements based on state guidelines, and customer meltdowns have followed at stores where masks are mandatory.

Petition time. Last week, leading retail trade groups wrote to state and federal officials, demanding a clear, unified policy on wearing masks in public places.

Until they hear back, chains that haven’t changed their policies will watch others closely. “Retailers don't want to be the first to implement it in case it doesn't catch on and they alienate customers,” said Rebekah Kondrat, founder at consultancy Kondrat Retail. “But there does come a point where they feel pressured to join the mask mandate movement for fear of being outliers.”

Put it in practice

When “to mask or not to mask” is no longer the question, retailers will have new challenges to consider.

Enforcement. “There are small pockets of very strong resistance to mask wearing and this potentially puts store staff in the firing line,” said Neil Saunders, managing director at GlobalData Retail. “There have already been some ugly conflicts and we can expect to see even more if mandates become more widespread.”

Politics. Mask policies have warped from public health tool to political shorthand, Kondrat noted. “A mask mandate (or refusal to implement one) can be viewed by the public as confirmation of a retailer's political position,” which could impact sales in mask-wary regions.

My takeaway: Retailers didn’t hesitate to introduce face masks as a product category. But they’ll stay reluctant to make customers wear them nationwide without a stronger push from their peers or government policy.

Retail news that keeps industry pros in the know

Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.