These orders allow a small number of employees to continue working while maintaining a safe distance from customers and ensuring time for stores to disinfect surfaces. Many Barnes & Noble locations that have closed due to local ordinances continue to offer curbside pick up for online orders. “One of my friends works at a Barnes & Noble in Virginia and his store hasn’t closed yet, so I think it’s safe to assume that they wouldn’t have closed if they weren’t told to,” said Aidan of their store’s closure. The list of essential businesses includes specific industries and services, and booksellers are not a part of the list. “I love books too, but they aren’t essential during a pandemic, and none of the booksellers are less important than a book.”Īt Aidan’s store in New Jersey, the state “stay at home” order allowed for less ambiguity. “When gives interviews about how essential books are, he leaves out anything about booksellers being essential,” Courtney said. Managers have thus far claimed Barnes & Noble is an essential business, allowing them to remain open with reduced hours until instructed otherwise by local officials. Courtney’s store in Missouri is in an area under a 30 day shelter-in-place order. While some directives explicitly name bookstores as non-essential businesses, others are ambiguous when it comes to selling books. This leaves many booksellers confused as to whether their stores can remain open. However, the broad guidance deferred to state and local governments for further delineation of essential businesses in their individual directives. Department of Homeland Security issued guidance on what industries and workers are considered essential, highlighting industries like health care, food and agriculture, public works, and more. “I want us to be able to continue doing business, but not at the expense of all of us here.” Are Bookstores Essential?Īs many cities and states receive directives to shelter in place, constituents are left uncertain about what businesses are deemed essential or non-essential. Courtney shared that she and many colleagues would feel more comfortable continuing to work if stores moved to pick-up only and stop accepting cash payments. Others, even some that are at higher risk of contracting COVID-19, continue coming to work out of fear of unemployment. With such light foot traffic anyway, I don’t see the point in being open to people to walk around who could potentially put booksellers at risk.”Īt storefronts that remain open, some employees have chosen not to come to work out of fear and are using available paid time off. They stand as close to us as possible, even as we take great care to put distance between us, and cough into the air. Others don’t seem to care or understand that there’s a virus that we could catch. “There are very few customers who actually are taking precautions. Courtney reports that, although chairs have been removed from reading areas and the cafe at her store has been closed, customers continue to visit the store and linger in public areas. But there’s nothing about cleaning registers or countertops or keyboards and touch screens, so it just isn’t done unless one of us decides, ‘Hey, that should be done.’”Įnforcement of social distancing for customers is even more lax. “Corporate mandates we clean the doors, so we do. At Courtney’s store, adherence to recommendations is minimal. While individual stores have received guidance from headquarters on cleaning protocols and social distancing recommendations for customers, enforcement is up to individual store management. And that’s fine when it comes to what books are selling in your region, but the gray area during a pandemic is not.” “ left a lot up to individual stores to implement. Courtney*, a Barnes & Noble employee based in Missouri, told Book Riot that doors remain open, and safety precautions aren’t being regularly taken by customers or managers of her store. When it comes to COVID-19 protocols in open stores, Barnes & Noble employees report mixed messages from headquarters, regional leadership, and individual store management. Adherence to Safety Standards Varies by Store And although Congress’s recent stimulus package allocates money to support state unemployment funds, it’s unclear how long it will take for that money to reach out-of-work New Jerseyites’ pockets. Now, Aidan is among the over 150,000 New Jersey residents filing for unemployment, an increase of 2,000% over the same week last year.
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