I ran out tonight to avoid this...
Per their website, all stores will close at 6 PM starting tomorrow. Opening times will not change. If you're planning to isolate yourself in your garden, check the clock before you go get supplies!
I work at home depot. Please stay home if you don't need to come to the store. Better yet, BOPIS your order. (Buy Online and Pickup in Store). You can order online for pickup at your nearest store. They will send you a text message when your order is ready. If they don't have the product or cannot find it within 2 hours they will notify you and offer a substitute or at least tell you they don't have it. If you can wait a bit, you can order from homedepot.com and if there is an option, you can have the item delivered to your door instead. If you want your item delivered from the store, that can also be arranged, but you need to make a phone sale. There is a delivery charge, but it is a flat rate for up to 10 pallets of anything. If you order at the right time or a certain $ amount on an item, like an appliance or a qualified grill, delivery may even be free or reduced.
It is safer for me and for you if we have fewer people in the store and BOPIS will allow you to spend the least time looking around. I would still make sure you maintain your 6 ft space when you are in line. Please maintain a safe distance from the staff as well. We don't want to get sick either.
I spend a lot of the time when I am working backing up and I have had to ask a couple of customers to keep their distance from me especially when I back up and people still keep coming toward me.
The hours have been shortened, at my store to 6am-6pm. We are opening at the same time but closing early. It has been difficult with the panic buying to try to restock shelves. The extra hours will give the store time and space to restock the shelves and clean the high touch areas. We are out of a lot of the things people have been panic buying and when we get them in people still find ways around the product limits. We are getting products from suppliers, but we don't get our full order because demand is so high. We are also on an island where 80% of all food and goods are imported. Only so much can get on a container ship. We know when something is ordered, but we won't know the exact day it will be available.
I still don't know what people intend to do with a 10 year supply of toilet paper.
It is safer for me and for you if we have fewer people in the store and BOPIS will allow you to spend the least time looking around. I would still make sure you maintain your 6 ft space when you are in line. Please maintain a safe distance from the staff as well. We don't want to get sick either.
I spend a lot of the time when I am working backing up and I have had to ask a couple of customers to keep their distance from me especially when I back up and people still keep coming toward me.
The hours have been shortened, at my store to 6am-6pm. We are opening at the same time but closing early. It has been difficult with the panic buying to try to restock shelves. The extra hours will give the store time and space to restock the shelves and clean the high touch areas. We are out of a lot of the things people have been panic buying and when we get them in people still find ways around the product limits. We are getting products from suppliers, but we don't get our full order because demand is so high. We are also on an island where 80% of all food and goods are imported. Only so much can get on a container ship. We know when something is ordered, but we won't know the exact day it will be available.
I still don't know what people intend to do with a 10 year supply of toilet paper.
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MsDDC
- Cool Member
- Posts: 96
- Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2019 8:11 pm
- Location: Washington, DC; 7A by the map but 7B by local urban temps
I exclusively went to the garden center last night. Big, outdoor space that was sparsely populated. I had to remind the staffer who loaded my garden soil to stay a few feet away from me (he kept moving closer every time I backed up), but other than that, I definitely kept my distance. And I'm done until...fall, probably. 
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MsDDC
- Cool Member
- Posts: 96
- Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2019 8:11 pm
- Location: Washington, DC; 7A by the map but 7B by local urban temps
To clarify, I was planning to swing by and get the last of the supplies I needed kinda late in the evening, when crowds would be low. I was hoping to wait a few more days for panic buying to subside. But the early closures forced my hand, and I went at 7 PM on the last day they were open that late. That worked out well, since customer loads were low. I only saw 2 other customers, and we were far apart. Once I reminded the one staffer to stay back a few feet, I also didn't come within 6 feet of a staffer (and I've been home 3/4 time since March 3 with the broken foot (mentioned in the photos/progress forum) and 100% since Friday).
Except for the bars, most businesses are not required to shut down. Restaurants are strictly take out now. Some businesses have shut down, some are open with reduced hours. I actually have been staying home except for when I needed to get groceries and gas. There are fewer cars. School is still out and that always lightens traffic. The city is sponsoring a drive thru covid 19 testing site with a private medical partner. They are going to test people in high risk jobs like those who work in healthcare, public service, prisons, and people who work in the tourist industry and who also have symptoms of being ill. The one thing that they failed to say was 1. there is no point to test the worried well, if they don't have risks or symptoms the test will likely be negative. 2. testing negative does not mean that you can't get infected at some other time. 3. People who have recovered from covid 19 and have retested and tested negative are the only ones who are likely immune and will not get the disease again, but they could still touch a surface contaminated by someone else and pass it on, so hand washing and distancing is still the best option for everyone.
Unfortunately there are a still a lot of people who don't get it. I talk to my mom about once a week, but while she doesn't go out much unless one of us drives her around. She is not worried when someone she's been close to has a little temperature and she asked me to shop for some things (not food ) at Costco. I did tell her that I was going anywhere near Costco now. People still want to go to the beach or meet up with their friends. It is not only the restaurants and bars that need to close, the malls need to close too. Some businesses are voluntarily closing down, like Macy's, but the malls are only reducing hours not closing.
Unfortunately there are a still a lot of people who don't get it. I talk to my mom about once a week, but while she doesn't go out much unless one of us drives her around. She is not worried when someone she's been close to has a little temperature and she asked me to shop for some things (not food ) at Costco. I did tell her that I was going anywhere near Costco now. People still want to go to the beach or meet up with their friends. It is not only the restaurants and bars that need to close, the malls need to close too. Some businesses are voluntarily closing down, like Macy's, but the malls are only reducing hours not closing.