Florida Mall and Orlando Premium Outlets have reopened as phase one gets underway, Simon announces
ORLANDO, Fla. - On Monday morning, property owner Simon announced that the Florida Mall, Orlando International Premium Outlets, Orlando Vineland Premium Outlets, and Orlando Outlet Marketplace are open once again as phase one of the state's reopening plan allows retail stores to open with limited capacity.
Florida's reopening plan allows retail stores to operate at 25-percent of indoor capacity. Social distancing guidelines must be followed.
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With the reopening of these malls, Simon has published its COVID-19 Exposure Control Policy, which they say was developed in conjunction with a team of leading experts in the fields of Epidemiology and Environmental Health and Safety, thus ensuring higher safety standards. All tenants at the reopening malls have been informed of the safety protocols and are expected to adhere to these policies.
The new policy includes:
- Enhanced sanitization and disinfecting, focusing on high-traffic locations like dining areas, restrooms, escalators, stairs, directories, trash bins, and door knobs.
- Protective masks, sanitizing wipes, and temperature testing at entrances or property offices must be available.
- Hand-sanitizing stations throughout the properties.
- Signs promoting CDC guidelines for personal hygiene will also be displayed throughout the properties.
- Pre-emptive employee health screening to ensure that employees do not arrive at work within 72 hours of exhibiting COVID-19 or flu-like symptoms.
- Employee safety protections like frequent hand-washing protocols, offering personal protective equipment, and other CDC recommended practices.
- Promotion and enforcement of social distancing through capacity limits, furniture and restroom spacing, no play areas, signs to flow traffic, and distance markers.
"The health, safety and well-being of those we serve will always be our highest priority, and we have developed a thorough and detailed set of protocols highlighting the exceptional measures we’ve implemented to safeguard shoppers, retailers and employees as we reopen,” said John Rulli, President of Simon. “We also recognize that individuals and families in our communities are suffering significant hardship as a result of both COVID-19 and the economic shutdown, and we believe that reopening our properties will not only help people get back to work during these challenging times, but also enable us to use our properties to further support charitable initiatives."
“Our properties are an integral part of our communities; not only in terms of shopping, dining and entertainment, but also job creation, small business growth and community support. We look forward to once again serving the needs of our communities, and do so in a safe and responsible manner,” Rulli added.
On Monday afternoon, Paddock Mall in Marion County said it plans to reopen on Friday with reduced hours of 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 5:30 p.m. on Sunday.
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