Walmart, Sam’s Club, Target, CVS among businesses requiring shoppers to wear face masks

(Gray News and KWCH) - Update Thursday, July 16, 2020: Add Target and CVS to the growing list of the nation’s largest retailers that either already is, or soon will require customers to wear masks as cases of COVID-19 spike in several states.

CBS News reports starting Aug. 1, Target will require all shoppers, except for small children and those with underlying health conditions, to wear masks. Most of the chain’s 1,800 stores already require customers to wear masks due to local and state regulations.

The order at CVS starts Monday (July 20). CBS News reports in the company’s statement, it noted that it was “not asking our store employees to play the role of enforcer. “What we are asking is that customers help protect themselves and those around them by listening to the experts and heeding the call to wear a face covering,” the drugstore chain said.

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Retail giant Walmart and grocery-store chain, Kroger (including Dillons grocery stores in Kansas) are among businesses that soon require customers to wear face masks inside all of their stores.

Walmart announced the policy will begin Monday, July 20 at more than 5,000 Walmart and Sam’s Club locations. Kroger’s policy begins next Wednesday, July 22.

“We are taking this extra step now because we recognize additional precautions are needed to protect our country,” the statement from Kroger said Wednesday. “As an employer, grocery provider and community partner, we have a responsibility to help keep our associates, customers and communities safe.”

Walmart said 65% of its stores are already located in areas where there is a government face mask mandate.

Company leaders say the policy change comes as they look to prioritize the health and safety of customers and employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Walmart will have an employee dedicated to enforcing the company’s requirements at store entrances.

“The ambassadors, identifiable by their black polo shirts, will work with customers who show up at a store without a face covering to try and find a solution,” the company said. “We are currently considering different solutions for customers when this requirement takes effect on July 20.”

Sam’s Club members who show up without a mask will be provided a complimentary mask.

Other businesses implementing mask policies for customers include the Apple Store, Best Buy, Costco, Dollar Tree, and Starbucks.

Hours after Walmart's announcement, supermarket chain Kroger, based in Cincinnati, and department store Kohl's, based in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, followed suit. Kohl's policy will go into effect on Monday, while Kroger's mask protocol will go into effect July 22.

Bentonville, Arkansas-based Walmart, Kohl’s and Kroger join a growing but still small list of retailers to require masks at all of its stores, filling the role of states and the federal government that have failed to issue such mandates on an issue that has been highly politicized by President Donald Trump and many of his ardent supporters. Given Walmart’s clout as the largest retailer in the U.S., its decision is expected to push many others to issue similar mandates.

Last week, Starbucks announced that customers who visit its company-owned café locations in the U.S. will be required to wear face coverings. The policies at Starbucks and Best Buy went into effect Wednesday.

Only a handful of major retailers, including teen clothing chain American Eagle Outfitters and Apple, has a mask mandate for customers for all of its stores. Costco Wholesale Club was one of the first major retailers to require face coverings for customers at all of its stores. The policy went into effect in early May.

The National Retail Federation, the nation’s largest retail trade group, said in a statement that it hopes Walmart’s move will be a “tipping point in this public health debate.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been consistent about recommending people cover their mouth and nose when around others to help reduce the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. But at the beginning of the lockdowns, it had discouraged people who were not sick from buying masks for fear of taking away what was then a limited supply for health care workers.

“We know some people have differing opinions on this topic,” wrote Dacona Smith, chief operating officer at Walmart U.S. and Lance de la Rosa, chief operating officer at Sam’s Club in a blog posted Wednesday. “We also recognize the role we can play to help protect the health and well-being of the communities we serve by following the evolving guidance of health officials like the CDC.”

Copyright 2020 Gray Media Group, Inc. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved.