Bucking a recent trend by major retailers, Winn-Dixie parent Southeastern Grocers, will not require customers to wear face masks at its 550 stores in seven states.
The Jacksonville, Florida-based chain said Sunday “Mask mandates are a highly charged issue with our customers,” the company told CBS News in an email. “We do not want to put our associates in a position to navigate interpersonal conflict or prohibit customers from shopping in our stores.”
Southeastern Grocers is instead calling on the state and federal governments “to remove the challenging burden of enforcement from front-line employees and make masks mandatory by law,” it said in its statement.
The chain runs retail locations that include in-store pharmacies and liquor stores under the Winn-Dixie, Bi-Lo, Harveys Supermarket and Fresco y Más banners in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina.
For additional information visit our friends at CBS News.
