Black Friday usually means long lines outside big box stores for holiday shopping deals. However, because of the coronavirus pandemic, both retailers and shoppers had to make some changes this year.
Some counties such as Santa Clara County have been strictly enforcing crowd sizes, masking and social distancing.
A store manager at Best Buy in San Jose told NBC Bay Area that people usually spend the night waiting for the best deals, but not this year.
In Santa Clara County, officials are out monitoring that stores remain at 25% capacity. For Best Buy in San Jose, that means only 80 people at a time.
“It's actually heartening to see that it is empty," San Jose resident Melissa Nievera-Lozano said. "It lets me know that people are taking it seriously. Or if they are out like us, they are wearing masks.”
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The county stepped up enforcement of those protocols by sending out compliance officers this weekend to patrol busy shopping areas and make sure businesses are following the rules.
“They will be wearing vests like these. Bright colored with the county seal," said Indies Fonseca, Santa Clara County official. "Also, some of our staff members will also carry business cards to ensure that our business owners can contact them.”
Compliance officers will give out tickets to businesses that don’t follow county guidelines but the officers don’t collect any money.
According to county enforcement officers, tey’ve issued 76 citations to different businesses as of noon on Black Friday.
Noting that most were for, “failure to submit and post a revised social distancing protocol.“
