You want to make sure that your customers are leaving your store healthy. Learn what steps you can take to make sure you have a clean store with our retail store cleaning checklist.
Flu Season Is Coming Up
CDC projections estimate that influenza was responsible for up to 40 million annual illnesses in the U.S. between 2010 and 2020. With these figures in mind, you might be wondering what you can do to keep your store safe this upcoming flu season.
Fortunately, we have some answers. We’ve prepared a retail store cleaning checklist that covers general sanitation procedures and then focuses on specific parts of your store that may need more thorough cleaning than others. Keep reading to find out what you need to do to have a clean store and happy customers this upcoming flu season.
Clean Thoroughly and Often
The importance of having a clean store cannot be overstated. While regularly wiping down and disinfecting your store may seem obvious, it gets easy to gloss over key areas. And though the industry is very fast paced, thorough cleaning is the safest kind of cleaning.
Whatever your business may be, there’s no shortage of high-contact touchpoints in the retail industry. Studies show that both Influenza A and Influenza B survive on nonporous surfaces for up to 48 hours—these surfaces include your cashier’s counters, shelves, refrigerator handles, and much more. Unless your store is made of cardboard, it’s unlikely you have many porous surfaces.
Also, don’t assume that an exposed individual made contact with just one or two surfaces during their trip to your store. It’s also unlikely that just one exposed person came through what you thought was your clean store. We can’t overemphasize the importance of frequently cleaning your surfaces, especially those that you see customers regularly make contact with.
Give Your Customers the Tools To Protect Themselves
When given the right tools, many will do their part to keep your establishment safe. Simple things your business can offer to help your customers keep themselves healthy include:
- Offering PPE
- Installing sanitizing stations
- Providing disinfecting wipes
- Including space dividing tools
These are all cost-effective, easy-to-implement techniques that will have your customers feel safe and considered.
Use Air Purifiers
Did you know that sneeze clouds can travel up to 25 feet? While there’s no definitive consensus on how influenza spreads, researchers agree that air droplets are the primary culprit. An air purifier is an easy, low-maintenance way to mitigate those airborne flu particles and keep a clean store.
A study conducted by CAS Test Technical Services discovered that an air purifier removed 99.9% of influenza particles in the air surrounding it. Installing purifiers throughout your store can be a hassle-free step to slow down the spread of influenza. But even though air purifiers are convenient and effective, researchers agree they aren’t enough to keep a clean store on their own.
Set Up Physical Distancing
Through various signs, notices, and rules, you can ask your customers to try and maintain physical space between one another in the store. Physical separation is very effective when paired with PPE. While some customers may ignore your suggestions, offering gentle reminders through signs and direction of foot traffic can still be an effective way to remind many customers to stay safe.
Your Retail Store Cleaning Checklist
Now that you know what to do, here are the most dangerous, germ-prone spots in your retail store. By combining the tools we suggested above with this knowledge, you’ll be able to keep a safe, clean store.
Shopping Cart or Shopping Basket Handles
Customers are constantly making contact with their shopping carts and baskets. These surfaces are a high priority, especially if your store is smaller and has a limited amount of carts or baskets that are shared throughout the day. An easy method to keep carts and baskets sanitary is to offer customers disinfecting wipes while regularly wiping them down yourself.
Refrigerator Door Handles
Every customer that grabs a product from your refrigerated sections has to make contact with the handle. Customers are very unlikely to clean these themselves, which means these have to be sanitized so you have a truly clean store. Focus on the parts of your refrigerated goods sections that are in high demand. These are likely to be the most saturated with germs and bacteria.
The Cash Register
Public health and safety workers agree that the cash register is the most dangerous place in the grocery store. There are many reasons for this:
- Shared air because of cashier and customer proximity.
- Product-facilitated physical contact between customers and cashiers
- Delayed foot traffic. People tend to gather and idle at checkout, leading them to touch products around them like magazines or counters.
Register-specific sanitation methods include asking your employees to wear PPE and installing acrylic barriers between cashiers and customers. Finally, expanding self checkout options is a very effective way to limit contact and keep a clean store.
Produce
Customers love to inspect produce by picking it up and rotating it in their hands. Train your workers to regularly disinfect self-serve equipment in the produce section and encourage customers to cover their hands when interacting with produce. Alternatively, consider offering your produce in prepackaged containers and eliminating self-serve entirely.
Hire Carlson for Retail Store Cleaning Services
If these retail store cleaning tips seem like a lot to take on for your already swamped staff, consider hiring a company that offers retail store cleaning services. Explore our website and learn about our services that will make sure you have a proper, clean store. We pride ourselves on our meticulous attention to detail at Carlson, and we’d like the chance to prove it to you.
