SURREY -- The Costco in Surrey is already a busy place, but now the line-ups are so long, it looks like people are waiting outside a stadium to buy concert tickets.
The question now: how to keep all of these people, all in one place, at a healthy distance?
In this unprecedented era of COVID-19, managers have employees watching and encouraging people to keep socially distant. Costco members are given carts early, to make it easier to main a safe space in the snaking lines.
“Remember to keep yourselves separated from each other,” a friendly employee yelled-out to the crowd.
Inside, every second till is closed to promote even more distance.
“So this gentleman out here is directing traffic,” manager Jared Macmillan said, pointing to a man wearing blue gloves. “As we get people coming to the tills, we’re trying to have only so many people in each line.”
That’s ideally two to three customers, maximum.
“Our job right now is to control it, keep everybody spread out and get them everything they want at the same time,” said Macmillan.
Costco is also limiting how many customers are allowed in the store at the same time, using a "one-in, one-out" policy.
Managers at BC Liquor Stores are also spacing out their cashiers.
London Drugs is busy printing ‘stand here’ signs that will begin appearing in stores shortly.
Save-On-Foods is confident shoppers will self-regulate.
“We are going to trust our customers to do the right thing," Save-On-Foods said in an email to CTV News Vancouver.
