Rhode Island Retail Guidance
Effective March 26, 2020 at 5:00pm
Governor Raimondo and Dr. Alexander-Scott today announced new guidelines issued by the Department of Business Regulation for retailers and grocers as part of the state's response to the COVID-19 public health crisis. This guidance applies to ALL RETAILERS including gas stations and convenience stores. We are confirming this fact, and will notify you if this should change.


Social distancing:
1. Allow no more than 20% of stated fire capacity in the store at a time (note that this reduced capacity is approximately 150 square feet per person*). Require staff to count the number of customers entering and exiting the store and to enforce limits.
2. Clearly mark 6’ spacing in lines and other high-traffic areas and consider ways to encourage spacing if there are lines outside. Consider posting signage or using ropes to direct customers and to limit bottlenecks/encourage flow in high-density areas of stores.
3. Designate employees to monitor social distancing and assist customers.
4. Maximize space between customers and employees at checkout.

Cleaning and sanitation:
5. Designate employee(s) to ensure the cleaning guidelines set by the CDC are followed.
6. Discontinue self-serve foods and product sampling

Limit time in store, especially for vulnerable populations:
7. Exclusive hours for those in high-risk populations, including seniors, where stores will limit their capacity to 10% of fire capacity at any time (figures to 300 square feet per person).
8. For our larger grocery stores and retailers (those with greater than 25,000 SF), we are encouraging them to offer pickup and/or delivery options.