Aldi has said that all customers will be required to wear a mask unless they are medically exempt.
For a limited period, customers that forget to bring a mask will be provided with one, free of charge. Anyone without a medical exemption that refuses to wear a mask is not permitted to enter its stores.
Aldi will also be reminding customers that they should shop alone if they can, to reduce the number of people in store.
Giles Hurley, Chief Executive Officer at Aldi UK said, “The safety of our colleagues and customers is our number one priority. Wearing a mask is mandatory for everyone that shops at Aldi, except for the small number of people who have a medical exemption.”
Aldi was the first supermarket to introduce electronic traffic light systems across all of its stores to manage customer numbers and it continues to operate a number of strict safety measures such as screens at checkouts and a recent doubling of sanitisation stations in stores.
In recent days, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Morrisons, Waitrose and Asda have all stted that they will be ensuring that all customers wear face-masks in-store unless medically exempt.
Simon Roberts, Chief Executive of Sainsbury’s, said, “The vast majority of customers are shopping safely, but I have also seen some customers trying to shop without a mask and shopping in larger family groups.
“Please help us to keep all our colleagues and customers safe by always wearing a mask and by shopping alone. Everyone’s care and consideration matters now more than ever.”
Tesco has also announced that it will be enforcing face-mask wearing and lone shopping.
A statement said, “We won’t let anyone into stores not wearing a face covering, unless they are exempt – We are also asking customers to shop alone, unless they’re a carer or with children… we will have additional security to help manage this”.
An Asda spokesperson said: “If a customer has forgotten their face covering, we will continue to offer them one free of charge, but should a customer refuse to wear a covering without a valid medical reason and be in any way challenging to our colleagues about doing so, our security colleagues will refuse their entry.”