$梅西百货(M)$ Suzanne Kapner 1 hr ago 准备下周一重开68家店面，并在6周内大概775家店铺全部开业。
Macy’s Inc. plans to reopen 68 stores on Monday in states that have loosened restrictions, joining a handful of other retailers that are limping back to life after the coronavirus forced them to shut stores.
Macy’s Chief Executive Jeff Gennette said in an interview that he expects to have all of the company’s roughly 775 stores reopened in six weeks, if infection rates taper off as projected and state and local governments allow it. The next batch of roughly 50 stores is scheduled to reopen May 11. The retailer, which also owns the Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury chains, has been offering curbside pick up at about 20 Macy’s stores for the past week.
“We don’t know how consumers will respond,” Mr. Gennette said, adding that he expects the stores that come back first to do less than a fifth of their normal sales volume at first.
The shopping experience will be drastically altered at many chains that are reopening. Best Buy Co. will open about 200 stores in May to shoppers who make appointments for in-store consultations to buy appliances or electronics. Costco Wholesale Corp., whose stores have remained open through the pandemic, will require customers to wear face coverings to shop starting next week.
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At Macy’s, beauty departments will offer “no-touch” consultations and demonstrations with the option to test products on a piece of paper with a diagram of a face. Customers will be required to use hand sanitizer before trying on fine jewelry and watches. The cases will be cleaned regularly.
Only a handful of fitting rooms will be open at a given time. They will be sanitized frequently, and employees will hold items that have been tried on for 24 hours before putting them back on the sales floor. The same 24-hour hold will be applied to returned goods.
“We’re not sure customers will want to use fitting rooms,” Mr. Gennette said. “We think they will buy, try on at home and return what they don’t want.”
Plexiglass will be installed at cash registers, and the keypads will be wiped after each use. Signs throughout the store will instruct shoppers to stay 6 feet apart.
It isn’t clear how fast shoppers will rush back to stores, or whether the pandemic will accelerate changes in consumer behavior that were already in effect before states and cities ordered consumers to stay home and nonessential businesses to shut their doors in March. Macy’s and Best Buy, which together furloughed about 150,000 people in March, don’t plan to bring many of them back right away.
Department stores and other bricks-and-mortar retailers were already experiencing declines in foot traffic as more shopping shifted online in the years leading up to the health crisis. Some chains are using the pandemic to make profound changes to their business. The parent company of Harry & David, the gourmet-food seller known for its gift baskets, will permanently close most of the brand’s U.S. stores in coming months and focus on e-commerce instead.
“What this crisis has done is accelerate a secular trend toward digital,” said Jide Zeitlin, the chief executive of Coach parent Tapestry Inc. Mr. Zeitlin said that while physical stores will always be important, he plans to hold them to a higher profitability threshold than before the crisis. As a result, Tapestry might decide to keep some stores closed for good.
Tapestry, which also owns the Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzman brands, has reopened all its stores in China, five locations in Europe and 12 in Australia. On Thursday, it plans to start offering curbside pick up at 40 locations in 10 U.S. states, plus in Vancouver, British Columbia.
While its stores have been closed, it has relied on virtual selling techniques to boost online sales. Kate Spade associates, for instance, have been hosting Zoom parties from their homes where they showcase items from the brand that they have in their closets.
The 68 Macy’s stores will open in Georgia, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas and Tennessee with reduced hours of 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. About a quarter of them are located in some of the 49 malls and outlet centers that Simon Property Group Inc., the country’s largest mall operator, is planning to reopen this weekend.
Before they show up for work, Macy’s employees will be required to complete a wellness checklist that asks them to take their temperature and whether they have had any symptoms in the past 24 hours.
Employees will be required to wear masks. Those that process inventory, returns and manage fitting rooms will also wear gloves. Hand sanitizer will be available throughout the stores for employees and customers.
“We looked at what it would be like to open in a way that makes sense from a profitability standpoint, assuming a lower level of traffic,” said Marc Mastronardi, Macy’s chief stores officer.
Best Buy plans to wipe down gadgets and other items before and after each in-store shopper touches them. The retailer will mandate that its employees wear masks and gloves, which it will provide, and require employees to check their temperatures before their shifts.
Best Buy has been offering curbside pickup and online delivery since it locked its doors in March. The company won’t be bringing back any of the employees it furloughed last month to offer the appointment service, a spokeswoman said.
Costco is the first large retailer to require shoppers also wear masks. The warehouse chain, and other retailers including Walmart Inc., already require workers to wear masks.
Some customers and others objected to Costco’s requirements for shoppers on social media Wednesday. The company is following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines that recommend wearing face coverings in public settings, a spokesman said. Shoppers under 2 years old and those unable to wear a face covering due to medical conditions won’t have to do it.
“This is not simply a matter of personal choice; a face covering protects not just the wearer, but others too,” he said. “Our employees are on the front lines.”