Fred Meyer Will Limit the Number of Shoppers That Can Enter Its Stores

The chain’s parent, Kroger, will cap the number of shoppers at half of stores’ design capacity.

Customers at a Northeast Portland Fred Meyer on March 19, 2020. (Wesley Lapointe)
By Nigel Jaquiss

Fred Meyer will limit the number of shoppers that can be in its stores at any one time, the Portland Business Journal reported.

The move comes amid the COVID-19 pandemic and is meant to enforce social distancing and keep both customers and employees safer. Other Portland-area groceries—including New Seasons, Whole Foods and Trader Joe's—have been limiting the number of customers in their stores for several weeks.

Fred Meyer operates 132 stores in the Northwest. Those stores are part of the 2,757 stores that the company's parent, the Kroger Co., operates nationally.

The Business Journal said the company will limit the number of customers to half of each store's design capacity. (Grocery stores' capacity is one occupant for every 60 square feet of floor space. The new guideline, effective April 7, is one per 120 square feet.)

"Kroger's introduction of customer capacity limits is one more way we are doing our part to flatten the curve while operating as an essential business, providing our customers with access to fresh, affordable food and products," Mary Ellen Adcock, Kroger's senior vice president of operations, said in a statement.

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office. Support WW's journalism today.