As businesses look toward a possible reopening, Stew Leonard Jr., the president and CEO of Stew Leonard's, has some advice on how to do it safely.

Leonard shared these 11 tips he learned from his experience in keeping a retail business open:

1. Convince your customers that your business is the cleanest place they can be in everyday. Click here to see the CDC guidance for cleaning.

2. Make sure your customers see you, or your employees, cleaning. Have plenty of sanitizing wipes and hand sanitizer available for your customers.

3. Make sure you and all your employees are wearing masks and gloves, and ask your customers to wear masks. Click here to learn how to make cloth masks. And here, to learn how to properly clean them.

4. Make social distancing easy for your customers. Have lines on the floor to let people know where six feet is. And install plexiglass, or some type of plastic, to put a barrier where there is an interaction between you and a customer.

5. Make sure everyone is conscious of clean hands, and that they don’t touch their face.

 

6. Educate your team. Share tips from a doctor. Don’t share rumors.

7. Communicate frequently with your team about the business and the virus.

8. Don’t expect that everyone wants to show up to work. Know that a lot of older workers, and those with underlying medical issues will not want to be at work right now.

9. Be a role model. Wear a mask and gloves, and practice social distance. 

10. Keep yourself educated. Make sure you are up to date on recommendations from the CDC, and the federal and local governments.

11. Realize your customers are afraid. And expect the experience at your business to be different. 

Other resources:
NEWS 12 POLL: Nearly half of responders think it's time to reopen
WE’RE OPEN: See who’s open in your area
CORONAVIRUS TRACKER: Cases in the tri-state area
LIVE BLOG: Coronavirus updates from the tri-state area and beyond