Arden Fair mall to reopen from coronavirus shutdown Friday, with masks encouraged
Arden Fair mall in Sacramento will reopen its doors Friday morning with a handful of stores ready for walk-in shoppers. Yes, that includes the Apple store.
Macy’s, however, is not expected to open until June 1. The mall is compiling a list of store openings on ardenfair.com that it will update daily. Sears and J.C. Penney will follow with openings in the next few weeks.
“I’ve been calling it a gradual reopening,” mall marketing manager Nathan Spradlin said. “Some retailers say they are a matter of days from being open. Others say it is two weeks to two months before they open.”
The mall will open with modified hours — 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and noon to 6 p.m. on Sundays.
The feel will be different. For one, Nordstrom, one of the mall anchors, has permanently closed during the coronavirus shutdown.
Arden Fair officials said all employees of the mall will wear face masks, and mall officials are asking shoppers to wear masks as well, in compliance with the county health department’s recommendation for indoor shopping.
In some areas of the mall, the floor will be marked for one-way traffic to smooth flow in congested areas. The mall does not expect to have to limit the number of people inside, but stores are asked “to limit the number of guests who can go inside a store at one time” based on the need to keep a six-foot social distance between people, Spradlin said.
Employees will also implement “robust and comprehensive” cleaning measures. That includes disinfecting restrooms every 30 minutes, periodically disinfecting food court tables during the day, and cleaning escalator handrails and elevator buttons every half-hour.
Originally, Arden Fair was planning a reopening May 22, the same day Sacramento County officially amended its public health order, after the state approved Sacramento County’s self-attested reopening Phase 2 economic reopening plan. The county joined a list of what are now 47 of the state’s 58 counties that may allow dine-in restaurants and in-store retailers, including malls, to reopen under guidelines that require increased sanitation, social distancing and mask use in some cases.
Around the same time state officials told Sacramento County to backtrack some aspects of the reopening — including plans to let outdoor gyms reopen along with the Sacramento Zoo -- but letting the county proceed with opening both indoor and outdoor malls and shopping centers. Arden Fair officials said then that they would not reopen during the three-day Memorial Day weekend so that management and staff could take the time to fully understand and properly implement all necessary guidelines.
“We look forward to welcoming our loyal customers, tenants and employees back to Arden Fair,” Spradlin said in an emailed statement. “We have been working hard to prepare a clean and healthy environment for everyone.”
This story was originally published May 27, 2020 at 12:40 PM.
