Some North Texas malls are preparing to reopen on Friday, while some are choosing to remain closed, while offering retail-to-go.
Simon Property Group, the country’s largest mall owner, plans to reopen seven of its North Texas locations Friday after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) lifted restrictions on shopping centers. In the state of Texas, malls can re-open May 1 so long as they limit occupancy to 25%.
According to Simon’s website, the following locations will re-open Friday: Allen Premium Outlets, Firewheel Town Center in Garland, Grand Prairie Premium Oulets, Grapevine Mills, North East Mall in Hurst, The Shops at Clearfork in Fort Worth and University Park Village in Fort Worth.
To reopen their malls, Simon Property Group posted a list of steps online they are taking to improve safety and encourage physical distancing that includes requiring employees to wear masks and encouraging shoppers to do the same.
The company said they’ll provide free, CDC-approved masks and sanitizing wipe packets to customers upon request and free temperature testing will be available.
The company said malls will limit the number of entrances, food court seating will be limited and spaced further apart, play areas will remain closed and in restrooms every other urinal and sink will be taped off. Shopping centers will also limit their hours to allow for daily, deep cleaning.
Galleria Dallas announced it will reopen, but not until Monday, May 4, and will be requiring all shoppers and employees to wear a face mask.
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To encourage physical distancing, the shopping center said food place seating will be removed and all food place items must be taken to-go along with common seating areas removed or spaced further apart. It is up to individual retailers if they chose to re-open and stores can continue to provide retail-to-go options through a pickup location in front of the Westin Hotel.
NBC 5 is reaching out to other shopping centers throughout North Texas and will be updating this article.
