Sacramento region grocery stores now expect customers to wear masks under state order
Major grocery store chains in the Sacramento region, which already require employees to wear masks, now expect their customers to do the same as a statewide mandate goes into effect to slow the spread of COVID-19.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday announced new health rules that require people throughout the state to wear facial coverings, or masks, in all indoor public spaces. Those rules include mask required for everyone at all locations where food is prepared or packaged for sale or distribution.
Grocery stores and supermarkets have remained open, even during the statewide stay-at-home order started in March to slow the spread of the coronavirus that causes the infectious respiratory disease COVID-19. Through the lockdown, some grocery stores required employees to wear masks while at work and recommended that customers also wear face coverings while in the store.
Save Mart changing mask signs
Save Mart, with grocery stores in Sacramento, Modesto, Merced and Fresno, changed exterior signage that used to recommend facial coverings for customers. Now, the company’s stores will post signs that say “anyone entering stores must follow the governor’s orders to wear masks,” said Victoria Castro, a Save Mart spokeswoman.
“Additionally, we will remind the public of this by a repeating message on in-store announcements,” Castro said in an email to The Sacramento Bee on Thursday. “We believe the executive order is a sound public health policy during the pandemic and support it for the benefit of employees, customers and the public.”
Save Mart employees are already required to wear face coverings in the Modesto-based company’s 205 stores in California and Nevada. And the company requires its suppliers and vendors entering stores to wear facial coverings, too.
The company’s stores in the Bay Area had already been requiring masks for customers when Newsom announced the new health rules this week.
“Health and safety should be everyone’s top priority,” Castro told The Bee. “We are pleased to note that The Save Mart Companies are already in compliance with a significant portion of Gov. Newsom’s executive order.”
Nugget Markets required customer masks since April
A grocery store chain in Sacramento’s four county region won’t need to adjust to the the governor’s new mask rules, since the company has already been practicing this health precaution for the past two months.
The Davis-based Nugget Markets in mid-April implemented a companywide rule that required all employees and customers to wear masks while inside one of its 15 stores in Northern California. At the time, the company’s CEO said a majority of Nugget Markets customers were already wearing facial coverings when the new rule was implemented.
“It’s true, we did upset a handful of guests, and for that, I do apologize for the inconvenience, but my top priority is to keep our associates and guests as safe as possible,” Eric Stille, president and CEO of Nugget Market, Inc. in an April 15 letter posted on the company website.
The Yolo County company’s store locations include Sacramento, Woodland, Elk Grove, Roseville, West Sacramento and Vacaville. Attempts by The Bee to reach Nugget Markets representatives were unsuccessful Thursday.
Since late April, Yolo County has had mandatory mask rule that requires face coverings in most public places. It had been the only county in the capital region with such a health directive. This week, the county released new guidelines for use of masks while working out at gyms and fitness centers.
Albertsons, which includes the Pleasanton-based Safeway stores in Northern California, Nevada and Hawaii, says it expects customers to follow the new statewide mask rules. But a company spokesman Thursday was not able to provide specifics about how the grocery store chain will ensure customers follow the new rules.
“We require our associates to wear masks, and expect that our customers follow all applicable local and state regulations with respect to face coverings for their protection and for that of our employees,” Andrew Whelan, spokesman for Albertsons Companies, said in an email to The Bee.
Like Albertsons, the West Sacramento-based supermarket chain Raley’s has already required store employees to wear masks while at work.
Chelsea Minor, a Raley’s spokeswoman, said customers had not been required to wear masks in the company’s stores, but she also could not provide any specifics on how the grocery store chain will ensure customers follow the new statewide mask rules.
