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Date: 4/7/2020
CHICOPEE – A line of about 50 shoppers, standing at 6-foot intervals, snaked along the front of the building at the Walmart in Chicopee. A man at the front of the line complained to the security guard who had been hired to let only a certain number of people in at a time.
“This is ridiculous. It’s dangerous what you're doing here,” the customer said, referring to the approximately 50 people behind him, many of whom wore face masks. The guard explained that the sidewalk had been taped off to help people practice social distancing.
At the order of the City of Chicopee, Walmart began limiting the number of people allowed into the store to 200 at a time on April 1.
“We are asking people to be patient and courteous during this difficult time. And thank you to Walmart management and associates for working with us to help keep every safe and healthy,” Chicopee Police Ofc. Michael Wilk posted on the department’s Facebook page.
As part of efforts to control crowds in Walmart, Chicopee and Westfield have also instructed aisles with “non-essential” items to be taped off to prevent customers from shopping longer than necessary.
Shortly after the city imposed its limit on Walmart crowd size, the retail giant began making plans to do the same at other stores. Walmart locations around Hampden County are erecting barricades and rope lines to streamline the flow of incoming customers into a single, managed entry point.
Walmart hired Brosnan Security to facilitate the controlled entrance of customers at the Chicopee store, located at 591 Memorial Dr. The guard Reminder Publishing spoke to, who was not allowed to give his name, explained that an associate in the store would signal to him the number of people they could take in as customers left with their purchases.
“They say, ‘we can take five more,’” the guard said as an example, and then he would count off the people from the line. He said he was surprised most people had been accepting of the measure and had not given him a hard time.
“It's really worth it,” said customer Jose Cotto, Sr. from behind a mask. He said he knew about the restrictions before he came to the store.
Raquel Claudio did not know ahead of time but wasn't bothered by it. “It's serious. The count of dead is going up,” she said.
Reminder Publishing reached out to Walmart's corporate headquarters for comment, but as of press time have not received a response.