The situation we’re facing as a company and as individuals is unprecedented and changing at a pace all of us are working to keep up with. We are making the best decisions we can with two goals in mind: protecting employees, customers and their respective families, while trying our best to serve the millions of Americans who rely on us for increasingly vital technology that keeps them connected to their school and work, and for the appliances necessary to help them store and prepare food. Demand is high for these necessities, including for the millions of children who will now rely on technology to continue their education online.
Even as we meet this demand, we’ve already adjusted how we operate in many ways to improve safety. We believe it makes sense to keep our stores open in those places where it is allowed and advisable. We are, however, making a series of changes:
Starting Wednesday, March 18, store hours will be reduced to 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time. We will revisit on an ongoing basis the decision to remain open with shorter hours, but our intention is to operate this way through Sunday, March 22.
Starting Monday, March 23, and at least for the next two weeks, we will serve our customers through limited access to our stores and curbside pickup. This will be done with the intent of substantially reducing the number of people in stores (only 10-15 customers at a time) and hours will remain 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time.
There will only be a few employees in the store, and customers will be able to:
- Take advantage of limited services within the store, including finding a specific product. Customers will be escorted by an employee, maintaining the recommended social distancing separation of 6 feet and following the official guidance to not allow clusters of 10 or more people
- Pick up a product at curbside that they ordered ahead of time on BestBuy.com or the Best Buy app
- Drop off a product for Geek Squad repair
Of course, customers can still order on BestBuy.com and have their products shipped directly to their homes. Deliveries and installations will continue wherever permitted and under strict safety guidelines. All in-home consultations will be done virtually as of Wednesday, March 18.
These changes also require fewer employees working at any one time, and we intend to give employees not working two weeks’ pay. We have also relaxed our absence policy and will not penalize employees for missing work.