With new cases of COVID-19 decreasing, the largest grocery store chain in The Villages is ending its requirement for one-way aisles that was put in place because of the pandemic.
That means that customers shopping at the grocery stores in and around The Villages will no longer see the directional arrows telling them which way to go down the various aisles.
According the grocer, the markings are being removed from all stores where local governments don’t require them. But the Lakeland-based company that owns more than 1,250 locations in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia isn’t backing off its efforts to protect customers and employees in any way, said spokesman Maria Brous.
“We implemented one-way aisles at the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic to help our customers understand and practice social distancing and over time, it has become widely understood and adopted into our routines,” she said. “We will continue to provide friendly social distancing reminders in our stores, through signage, floor markers at checkout and other queuing areas, as well as through our public address announcements.”
Publix stores in The Villages are located at Spanish Springs, Spanish Plaines, Southern Trace, Colony Plaza, Mulberry Grove, Lake Deaton and Grand Traverse Plaza. A new store also is located at Trailwinds Village on County Road 466A, just outside the confines of Florida’s Friendliest Hometown.