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Clothing stores changing fitting rooms for coronavirus re-openings

Coming soon to a store near you: Clothing quarantines. In an effort to protect customers from the coronavirus, some clothing retailers have decided to sequester clothes that have been tried on in a fitting room. Saks Fifth Avenue aims to take its clothing out of commission for 48 hours after being tried on, according to …

Coming soon to a store near you: Clothing quarantines.

In an effort to protect customers from the coronavirus, some clothing retailers have decided to sequester clothes that have been tried on in a fitting room.

Saks Fifth Avenue aims to take its clothing out of commission for 48 hours after being tried on, according to a spokeswoman. Macy’s is planning to quarantine its apparel for 24 hours, according to The Wall Street Journal, while other retailers, like Urban Outfitters and Target, are simply banning fitting rooms entirely.

Urban Outfitters, which just reopened some stores in Texas, already has signs in its store in the NorthPark mall in Dallas alerting customers that the fitting rooms are off limits. Target will be keeping its fitting rooms shuttered “out of an abundance of caution,” a spokeswoman told The Post.

“I’ve heard retailers try to discourage shoppers from picking up items if they are not buying it,” noted retail consultant Hedgie Bartol of Axis Communications. “Can you imagine if someone wanted to try on a bathing suit at a store that has such a policy.”

The problem, retail experts say, is that the government has issued very little guidance about the sale of apparel, which is sowing confusion on how to handle clothing that’s been in fitting rooms.

“The government has issued all sorts of guidance on social distancing and sanitizing,” said one retail exec who did not want to be identified and is weighing whether to open fitting rooms in his stores. “But there are no guidelines on how to touch and handle clothing.”

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