Business Fallout: Retailers Close, Walmart Hours Limited

WASHINGTON (AP) — A growing list of retailers are closing stores or limiting their operating hours as customers remain home in an effort to slow the spread of the virus outbreak.

Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer and private employer, said late Saturday it is limiting hours to ensure stores can keep sought-after items such as hand sanitizer in stock.

Beginning Sunday, more than 4,700 Walmart and Neighborhood Market locations in the U.S. will be open from 6 a.m. to 11 pm. until further notice. Most super center stores are typically open 24 hours while some Neighborhood stores are as well.

“I don’t think any of us have been through an experience like this, and we continue to be amazed at what people, whether in the stores or in the supply chain, are doing to make sure customers have what they need,” Dacona Smith, chief operating officer, said in a statement.

Other retailers are following Apple and closing their stores, including Urban Outfitters, Everlane and Patagonia.

“This is a critical moment in the world,” Everlane posted on its website. “With the situation evolving very quickly, we must do our part in slowing the spread of COVID-19”. Everlane says it will keep its online operations open, while Patagonia is closing down both its website and stores.

INFECTED EMPLOYEES: Supermarket chain Kroger said two of its employees have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus and are recovering. One was employed at the King Soopers grocery chain in Colorado, and the other at Fred Meyer, a grocery chain in Washington state. Both are subsidiaries of Kroger’s.

The company also said it has enacted an emergency leave policy that allows for paid time off for workers diagnosed with the coronavirus and those placed under a mandatory quarantine by a doctor or public health authority.