Barnes and Noble only has 30 bookstores open right now and the company plans on reopening another 20 in Alabama, Alaska, Mississippi, Montana, and Oklahoma this week. Further stores will likely be opening in the next few weeks, as other states are starting to let businesses start taking customers.
The bookseller has outlined the safety measures is was taking at each open store, including limiting the number of customers shopping in the store at any one time, enforcing social distancing measures, erecting plexiglass barriers, checking employee temperatures prior to each shift, requiring staff to wear facemasks, and maintaining a specific area of the store where customers can drop off browsed books to be sanitized before they are returned to shelves. Cafes will be open for to-go orders and pick-up for online orders.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.