In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Discount Textbooks and the Truman State University Bookstore have been tasked with providing their usual services to students in a safe and health-conscious manner.
Store Manager Tony Lain oversees the operations at Discount Textbooks, a place from which students have been able to buy textbooks at a discounted price for more than 30 years.
Under the guidelines provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Lain has had to adjust the way the store operates to help keep customers safe.
“We were allowing three people to come into the store at a time,” Lain said. “Everyone else had to wait outside until it was their turn to enter.”
Social distancing has been at the forefront of techniques to combat the spread of coronavirus, alongside the use of face masks.
Although masks are not required to enter Discount Textbooks, Lain acknowledged the importance of wearing one.
“It is encouraged [to wear a mask] … I would say 99% of customers wear a mask inside of the store,” Lain said.
With customer traffic slowing down after the initial rush of incoming students to buy textbooks, Lain has found time to disinfect after each customer that comes into the store.
Right down the block from Discount Textbooks is the Truman State University Bookstore, which also provides students with textbooks and other college essentials.
Textbook Manager Kris Hurley works in the bookstore where new cleaning protocols have also been adopted.
“We have our sanitizing spray, we clean our counter and the card scanner and other sections of the store,” Hurley said.
In response to concerns about entering the store to purchase textbooks, the University Bookstore has implemented a new curbside pickup option for orders.
“People arrive in their car and call the store so that we can bring their order out to them safely,” she said.
The Truman Bookstore requires customers to wear a mask while inside shopping, and has social distancing markers on the floor for proper spacing in line.
Junior Kaitlyn Amos has been a returning customer to both businesses throughout her time at Truman, and said she observed the changes made in response to COVID-19.
“I noticed in both stores that the employees were cleaning and sanitizing,” Amos said. “Everybody also had a mask on inside.”
As it has become a new normal to follow these guidelines, Amos described seeing many signs promoting social distancing and mask-wearing in the stores.