LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — More and more retailers and businesses are requiring face coverings, but some shoppers just don’t want to cover their faces.
Best Buy announced this week they would require all customers to cover their faces while shopping in their stores. The new policy goes into effect immediately, and Best Buy says they will provide a mask to customers who do not have one.
The nationwide electronics retailers is joining Walmart, Kroger, Costco, Starbucks, Target and CVS in instituting mandatory masks in their stores across the country.
The move is in line with the National Retail Federation, which called Wednesday for all retailers to adopt a nationwide policy that requires customers to “protect the health and well-being of customers, associates and partners during the coronavirus pandemic.”
“Shopping in a store is a privilege, not a right,” the group’s statement said. “If a customer refuses to adhere to store policies, they are putting employees and other customers at undue risk.”
But despite growing evidence that wearing face masks can cut the transmission of COVID-19, many people resist wearing face masks – sometimes violently so. On Wednesday, a Ralphs worker pepper-sprayed a man who rammed her with a shopping cart because she asked him to wear a mask. Across the country, people have been shot and killed over being forced to wear face masks, including at a small grocery store in Gardena on July 8.
However, shopping malls like The Grove have come up with a creative solution to encourage shoppers to wear masks – free stuff.
The outdoor shopping mall says they will surprise random shoppers with prizes like complimentary parking, iced coffee, a fresh pastry, or a Sprinkles cupcake just for wearing a mask.