Walmart’s Black Friday Plan Caps Customer Capacity at Just 20%

(Bloomberg) -- Black Friday is known for massive crowds of shoppers elbowing one another aside to get a good deal. At Walmart Inc., that won’t be the case this year.

The world’s biggest retailer will limit the number of customers inside its stores to just 20% of usual capacity as the threat of the coronavirus looms over this holiday shopping season. Other changes to the in-store setup include sanitized carts and directions to help shoppers avoid one another when browsing, Walmart said Wednesday.

Walmart, one of many retailers that plans to remain closed on Thanksgiving Day this year, will open at 5 a.m. on Black Friday. The company also plans to spread deals over a longer period, beginning in early November, an overhaul of the usual sales that begin around Thanksgiving.

Retailers are rethinking their operations and starting holiday discounts earlier this year as they try to navigate a dramatically different holiday season. More than three-quarters of American consumers are shopping earlier than usual, with a third of them citing concerns about their health and safety, according to an International Council of Shopping Centers survey released Friday.

Those worries are behind the slate of changes coming to Walmart. Before each of its 4,750 U.S. stores opens on Nov. 27, shoppers will form a single line to enter, and employees at entrances will encourage social-distancing. Shoppers will be required to wear a mask and will be directed down the right-hand side of aisles.

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