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U.S. Retail Is Winning Fight to Stay Open as Covid Strengthens
- Industry says stores are safe, even if cases keep rising
- Chains trying to avoid hit they took early in the pandemic
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U.S. retailers are so far winning the battle to keep open stores that don’t sell “essential goods” as a resurgent coronavirus brings new restrictions, a contrast from the early days of the pandemic that caused so much economic pain.
Staying open now is especially crucial with holiday shopping season entering its peak. Their core pitch is that their locations should stay open, regardless of what they sell, because they’ve spent millions on safety precautions and many are still operating at reduced capacity to ease crowds. There’s also little evidence that stores have been big spreaders of the virus. However, that hasn’t stopped other countries from closing nonessential retailers back down.