Square One in Mississauga will not make masks mandatory
Published June 23, 2020 at 9:08 pm
While Square One’s operators are encouraging shoppers to wear masks inside Mississauga’s most famous shopping centre, they will not make masks mandatory.
“While we are strongly encouraging the use of masks in our indoor environment, they are not mandatory. We do, however, strongly encourage that masks be worn inside the shopping centre,” Greg Taylor, Director and General Manager with Oxford Properties, told insauga.com
Although masks will not be mandatory, the shopping centre–which is slated to reopen on June 24 after an extended shutdown brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic–will look a little different.
Square One’s website says the shopping centre has implemented the following health and safety procedures:
- Increased cleaning frequency in high-touch and high-traffic areas using best practices and products identified by health organizations
- Installed signage to reinforce physical distancing, guide customer traffic flow and hygiene
- Placed hand sanitizer stations throughout the shopping centre
- Limited capacity in elevators and washrooms
- Some seating has been removed and clearly marked as out-of-use to maintain physical distance
- Valet parking operations have been suspended
- Water fountains have been decommissioned
According to Square One’s website, the shopping centre will be officially reopening at 11:00 am on Wednesday. While not all stores and restaurants will be open just yet, Taylor says 50 to 60 per cent of retailers will be ready to serve customers in-store.
“It’ll get to about 80 per cent over the coming days. Retailers need to open when they’re ready to open and have all the right protocols in place,” Taylor said, adding that the list of open restaurants will be regularly updated on the shopping centre’s website.
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Taylor said that several restaurants will be opening for takeout only.
He also said that washrooms will be open, but occupancy will be managed and some sinks will be blocked off to help with physical distancing.
As for whether or not the shopping centre will enforce capacity limits, Taylor says it’s easy for people to practice physical distancing in the 2 million square foot space.
“It’s easy to distance in this environment. We’ll monitor to ensure safe distancing will be maintained,” he said, adding that line ups in front of stores should be expected.
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