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Before the coronavirus breakout a year ago, product samples on demo carts were a big draw for retailers’ loyal shopper. Now you will find these demo carts have been turned into sanitizer stations with a store employee checking for masks. Some retailers are using their carts as additional endcaps, which many of them look sad and empty. The friendly face and service behind the cart is missing. And are they as clean and safe as before? What we found as the new normal in 2021…some stores are offering demonstrations rather than food samples. We also found in some cases, grab-and-go...

The entire 2021 March Madness NCAA tournament will take place in Indiana. The majority of the games played will take place be in Indianapolis. Lucas Oil Stadium hosts the tournament in the Elite Eight, Final Four and national championship rounds. The overall goal is to minimize travel by teams and keep a consistent protocol in place for COVID-19 testing for players and staff. The NCAA will allow a limited number of fans to attend all games in its men’s basketball championship tournament. The NCAA staff and body said it made the decision for 25-percent capacity with social distancing enforced in...

  Will movements by states such as Texas and Mississippi to discontinue mask mandates put food retailers doing business in those states back into an awkward position? And will other states follow? Could this reversal be potentially harmful to their workers, shoppers and businesses?  It will vary within state and by retailers because as of now they’re on their own to interpret and limited as how to enforce this proclamation to strike a statewide mask mandate and restrictions on capacity.  There will be several retailers that will continue to require employees in its stores to wear masks until its workers...

As you know, both indoor and outdoor sports were shut down March 2020 across the U.S.  The suspension of sports lasted six to eight months.  Only some states allowing fans to attend games with limited capacity. The COVID-19 pandemic took a toll on all sports, coaches, athletes, families, and fans.   The good news in 2021, all sports teams have taken extra precautions in order to get back to playing. Each team has elevated their health and safety protocols to slow down and stop the spread of coronavirus.  Each Coach quickly learned disinfecting was as important as masks, social distancing and...

Almost a year ago, COVID brought Spring sports seasons to a grinding halt. Before play was gradually allowed again, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) classified every sport into categories based on how likely the sport was to facilitate the transmission of COVID-19: “high risk”, “moderate risk”, and “low risk”. Last week on the blog we looked into what makes hockey such a “high risk” sport. But with Spring sports just around the corner again, many are asking NFHS to reconsider last year’s classification of boy’s lacrosse as “high risk”. One of the main arguments behind the...