A lot of retailers are having to adapt to the everyday reality of dealing with a pandemic situation in the United States. This can mean enforcing mask-wearing, enforcing good handwashing techniques, and putting down indicators to help people judge when they're socially distancing. But it also may mean rethinking the layout of your shop.

It's not fun to have to rearrange everything, but if you have a shop with narrow aisles, you may find you're having trouble getting people to socially distance in your shop — a necessity, public health experts tell us, to keeping people as safe as possible.

Now, one of the ways you can do this is by switching to a 'one way only' system on aisles, a system we've seen put in place in larger stores. This isn't always effective. People don't always pay attention to the signs, and if your aisles are narrow enough, one person waffling on a product decision can clog up the aisles, rendering the solution ineffectual. And, in some municipalities, it may be considered a fire hazard.

Of course, if you don't really have defined aisles, this may make things even harder.

This may lead to you needing to rearrange the whole store. You may need a whole new retail display setup in order to make your store as safe as you can be. Something that better displays your products at a distance so people don't have to get so close to the items and each other to see what you have available. You can set up something that may help herd your customers in a single directional flow, reducing the number of times people will cross paths and step into each other's spaces. Or you may want to remove most of your shelves and go to individual islands or floor displays, spreading your product out further to keep your customers further apart.

You may also want to update your display materials to be hardier to being thoroughly sanitized. Many display systems are made of more porous materials that can hold onto liquids and other things longer than non-porous displays that are made of metal. You may find you and your employees feel safest when you can spray all the shelving down at the end of the day.

The way you display your products may not ever have been more important than it is now. It's always been important, of course, but while having a visually appealing display is still important, it's also important to take everybody's health and safety into account when you're making your new plan.

To learn more, contact a resource that provides retail display systems.