Gloucester City company helps outfit retailers to meet new safety guidelines

GLOUCESTER CITY, New Jersey (WPVI) -- Retailers have been suffering during the pandemic, particularly the ones that rely solely on indoor space.

A company in Gloucester City is now helping stores rethink their setups for safety.

NEST is a national retail facility management company, working with about 60,000 stores.

Right now, they say it's about getting stores prepped with everything from sanitizing stations, to PPE, to touchless fixtures. It's also about changing the norm, starting with the way people check out.

"One of the big things we're seeing is self checkouts continue to become a big topic, and that's not necessarily to replace the cashier," says Rob Almond, the CEO of NEST. "It's about giving somebody the option to go to a kiosk so that they feel more safe. You can't just plop these things down on a sales floor. You have to kind of do a new floor plan."

NEST works with major retailers like Party City and Five Below. They are seeing the way business is done change to meet the times.

"A few of our clients have actually told us they're turning some of their stores into mini distribution centers because they don't have the foot traffic as much anymore." Almond says. "This way, they can store more product so that when the customer orders, they can either do curbside pickup or delivery."

NEST is also helping businesses, like Pier 1, deal with bankruptcy, and come up with a way to weather this storm.