Local businesses prepare for Black Friday crowds with COVID-19 protocols

Only three days away, Black Friday shoppers will be filling stores to grab some steals and deals, which requires businesses to take extra measures for their safety. Debby Delshad of Uptown Meridian says space will be limited at each store.

“Every store has their own capacity limitations and that is posted out in front of their store front and we will be monitoring the common areas,” said Delshad. “We’ll have sanitary stations set up and masks will be required.”

Store Manager at Buckle says they are expecting a similar crowd from last year and will be sanitizing everything throughout the store. He also says fitting rooms will be available to customers.

“We’re just keeping up-to-date cleaning protocols,” said Store Manager Christopher Bassmann. “The fitting rooms are open, they’re just sanitized after each use. The counter, the pin pads--every time a guest is up at the counter making a transaction, once they leave we clean it off before the next guest approaches.”

With possibly a heavy flow of traffic during Black Friday sales and the exhaustion of shopping, one food business is looking forward to lending a helping hand during the process.

“We obviously depend on the Christmas traffic so we want people to get out and support our business because we have the best pretzels,” said Owner of the Pretzel Twist Christine Barham. “We should just get out and knock out all our Christmas shopping.”

Uptown Meridian will be open on Friday from 8AM to 9PM for Black Friday.