ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – From trying to figure out which stores are offering delivery, to when senior hours are offered, grocery shopping these days can be a little daunting.
So, one Orange County Commissioner made it her mission to clear up the confusion.
Last week, Orange County District 2 Commissioner Christine Moore saw firsthand the varying degrees of shopper safety and decided to do something.
“I went into a store, that shall be nameless, and I was purchasing my goods and the lady behind me wouldn’t stay six feet back,” Moore said. “There might be a better way. It’s the store’s responsibly to set the standard and enforce it with their customers, so we decided we would start calling everyone.”
Since then, Moore and her staff have contacted businesses in her jurisdiction including Key Food, CVS, Walgreens and Publix to try to figure out what each store was doing to keep people safe.
The end result is this online list, available here, showcasing different practices done by businesses, whether its six foot lines placed on the ground or employee safety.
The list sorts stores into different categories.
For example, someone looking for senior citizen hours at the Rosemont Plaza along Orange Blossom Trail can clearly see Save A Lot starts their hour at 8 a.m. daily while the neighboring Dollar Tree doesn't begin its senior citizen hour until 9 a.m.
One column is dedicated to one-way aisles, something Moore said she expects to see more of in the future.
"I think we're going to have to find additional best practices and I think one-way aisles are the way we can all go shopping and not have our heart in our mouth the whole time," she said. "I get nervous when I go down those narrow aisles and people pass me from behind."
Moore said they’re already looking at adding pet stores to their business list, and plan on sharing the idea with other county commissioners.