US: Over 8.4M Cases - 225K Dead - 5.5M Recovered
Worldwide: Over 40.7M Cases - 1.1M Dead - 30.4M Recovered

Private Industry Security Guard Deaths: 203   Law Enforcement Officer Deaths: 127
*Red indicates change in total deaths

About 110,000 Californians have bought a gun since the coronavirus arrived
In the first five months of the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of Californians bought new guns and changed the way they stored their firearms in a bid to counter the unrest, government crackdowns and societal disintegration they feared would be unleashed by the public health emergency, a new survey has found.

By mid-July, the pandemic was cited as a factor in the purchase of an estimated 110,000 new firearms in the state, they reported. The majority of those sales, 57%, were to people who already owned at least one gun. But with 43% of sales going to people who did not previously own a firearm, the pandemic has helped spur the creation of as many as 47,300 new gun-owning households in the state. latimes.com

Midland, MI: Assistant Manager suing PetSmart store for wrongful termination after enforcing mask mandate
Fired for enforcing the governor’s face mask order? That’s the center of a lawsuit filed against PetSmart in Midland. The store's former assistant manager said he called police to help enforce Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s mask order because he was concerned for his safety.

Face masks have been the center of safety measures, controversy, and even violence. Many restaurant and retail employees are responsible for enforcement, even knowing if or when, asking someone to put on a mask, could lead to violence. Attorney Jennifer McManus said those headlines were on the top of her mind when Alex Brothers saw a customer wasn't wearing a face mask on July 19.

“Because the man was openly carrying a weapon, my client decided the smartest course of action was to contact law enforcement about the fact the man was not wearing a mask, as required under the governor's executive order,” says McManus. She says Midland Police escorted the man out of the store without incident. Two days later, Brothers was fired. wxyz.com

Hamilton, MT: Merchants try to stay safe in small town
where customers won’t wear masks
This summer, Montana Governor Steve Bullock mandated face coverings in public spaces to combat a spike in Covid-19 cases. But the sheriff in Hamilton, backed up by the Ravalli County commissioners, elected not to enforce the order, saying individual rights took priority. That decision left retailers and restaurants stuck in the middle of a months-long national conflict over mask wearing as they try to keep staff safe and their doors open without alienating customers. nytimes.com

Judge puts Wisconsin 25% capacity limit order back into effect
A Wisconsin judge on Monday reimposed an order from Gov. Tony Evers' administration limiting the number of people who can gather in bars, restaurants and other indoor venues to 25% of capacity. Wisconsin last week set new daily records for positive coronavirus cases, deaths and hospitalizations. To date, the state has more than 173,000 positive cases and 1,600 deaths. startribune.com

Face masks may come with safety labels
The personal protective equipment industry is looking to create a uniform set of standards so that individuals wearing face masks will know what level of protection they offer in helping prevent the spread of COVID-19 from one individual to another. The goal of actually creating a label may be difficult to achieve as a debate over standards continues among PPE suppliers. washingtonpost.com

Why employers expect a mental health crisis this fall
Here are highlights from a new survey from Unum asking U.S. employers what they expect for the fall re-entry and how they plan to help employees cope — including critically important plans for benefits enrollment:

● Part one: Modified school schedules will stress parents and employers. Nearly every business will be affected by modified school schedules. Employers think they will see a reduction in productivity and focus, and a big increase in requests for leave.

● Part two: A mental health crisis is on the horizon. Employees who’ve been juggling parenting and work for the last five months may soon start dropping balls. Almost nine in ten employers we surveyed listed employee mental health as a top concern, and most have started planning to meet the challenge.

● Part three: Employers need to get creative about enrollment. Just as financial protection benefits become more important than ever, enrollment is becoming more difficult. Employers need to make sure they’re educating employees about their choices, and find creative ways to conduct enrollment in the COVID-19 environment. unum.com

Conquer the Dread of Pandemic Winter
How to make this winter not totally suck, according to psychologists
Instead of thinking about the myriad negative feelings you want to avoid and the myriad things you can buy or do in service of that, think about a single organizing principle that is highly effective at generating positive feelings across the board: Shift your focus outward.

“Studies show that anything we can do to direct our attention off of ourselves and onto other people or other things is usually productive and makes us happier,” said Sonja Lyubomirsky, a psychology professor at the University of California Riverside. “A lot of life’s problems are caused by too much self-focus and self-absorption, and we often focus too much on the negatives about ourselves.”

This easy-to-remember principle is like an emotional Swiss Army knife: Open it up and you’ll find a bunch of different practices that research shows can cut through mental distress. They’re useful anytime, and might be especially helpful during the difficult winter ahead (though they’re certainly no panacea for broader problems like mass unemployment or a failed national pandemic response).

The practices involve cultivating different states — social connectedness, a clear purpose, inspiration — but all have one thing in common: They get you to focus on something outside yourself. vox.com

43 U.S. states are now on New York’s Covid travel restriction list, Cuomo says

Food Safety Summit attendees get detail on sectors’ COVID-19 response

Will virtual recruiting and onboarding hurt seasonal hiring?
 

'Fulventory' Initiative - 'Fulfillment - Pickup & Returns' Only
CEO of Mall Operator Says "They Need to Transform Their lazy a-- business"
to Survive
Lou Conforti, the CEO of the mall operator Washington Prime Group, said the mall industry needed to evolve away from being a "lazy-a-- business."

Earlier this year, Washington Prime introduced an initiative called Fulventory, which allows existing tenants to pay a lower rental rate to use additional space as a center for fulfillment or pickup and returns. And that malls need to become fulfillment centers with 'Dark Stores' if they expect to survive.

"This has been a very passive industry," Lou Conforti, the CEO of Washington Prime Group. "We were rent collectors versus problem solvers or curators."

Fulventory, offering its tenants the ability to turn an empty mall space into a place where they could facilitate services that allowed customers to buy online and pick up in store and buy online and return in store. Existing mall tenants can also use the space to run clearance sales on excess inventory.

Conforti said the service was meant to help retailers bridge the gap between e-commerce and brick-and-mortar sales, which he says is essential to meeting the needs of today's shoppers.

"We had a lot of overleveraged private-equity-sponsored tenants that were crummy merchandisers, and guess what? They should go away," he said. businessinsider.com

CoreSight: Store closings slowed down in September and October
As COVID-19 cases scaled up during the month of May, 1,385 stores taking up 40 million sq. ft. closed for good in the United States. In July and August, another 3,500 stores occupy 36 million sq. ft. of space shut down. But store closings declined greatly in September and October when a total of 860 stores left just 6 million sq. ft. empty. That’s the tally of CoreSight, a leading real estate industry research company that first reported seeing store closings accelerate four years ago.

“The key reason is the rise of e-commerce--that and the fact that the market was over-built,” said Kevin Cody, senior consultant for CoStar Advisory Services. “This year, a lot of the space that closed was occupied by longtime, permanent mall tenants. They were already struggling heavily, and the pandemic did not help.” chainstoreage.com

Deloitte: COVID-19 Isn't Cancelling the Holiday Season
As consumers reimagine holiday traditions, retailers that can capitalize on consumers' changing holiday shopping behaviors will likely be best positioned this season. That's according to a new Deloitte report, "2020 Holiday Survey: Reimagining Traditions."

● Amid continued COVID-19 anxiety, shoppers plan to spend cautiously this holiday season, averaging $1,387 per household, down 7% from 2019.

● Spending is expected to shift to non-gift purchases for celebrations at home ($435, up 12%), and socializing away from home and travel is expected to decline 34% year over year.

● Nearly 51% of holiday shoppers feel anxious about shopping in-store, and 64% of the holiday budget is expected to be spent online.

● Contactless shopping experiences are in great demand with 73% of consumers planning to have items delivered using traditional delivery players, and the use of curbside pickup options (27%) is expected to more than double from last year.

● New shopping behavior favors efficiency as the average shopping window is expected to be 1.5 weeks shorter this year. prnewswire.com

Bain: Strong non-store, grocery sales to drive 2% holiday growth
Total U.S. holiday sales will increase a modest 2% year-over-year, according to the “2020 Holiday Shopping Outlook” from Bain & Company. This is less than the 10-year average year-over-year holiday sales gain of 3.5% recorded by Bain between 2010 and 2019.

The Bain forecast is more in line with Deloitte’s annual holiday forecast, which projects year-over-year sales will edge up 1% to 1.5%, than it is with some others. Customer Growth Partners is projecting a 5.8% increase, citing strong September sales.

According to Bain, the retail categories that performed well from January through August 2020 will continue the trend during the holiday season. These include non-store (up 24% year-over-year from January – August), food & beverage stores (up 12%), building & garden stores (up 11%), and general merchandise stores (up 2%). Health & personal care stores reported flat sales.

Categories that lost sales compared to the first eight months of 2019 include sporting goods, hobby, books & music (down 1%), miscellaneous retail stores (down 4%), furniture & home stores (down 11%), electronics & appliance stores (down 17%), and clothing & accessories stores (down 35%). On average, retail sales grew 5.3% year-over-year during the period. chainstoreage.com

OSHA Hosts Stakeholder Call to Discuss Whistleblower Protection Program
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently held a public stakeholder meeting to discuss its Whistleblower Protection Program and how it can improve its administration of the 20-plus whistleblower protection provisions it is responsible for enforcing, including Section 211 of the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 (ERA). As we reported, OSHA is holding these stakeholder meetings in lieu of the Whistleblower Protection Advisory Committee due to the administration’s reduction in advisory committees. This call followed a similar call OSHA hosted in May, on which we also reported.

During this call, OSHA asked stakeholders for input on several categories, including how OSHA can provide better customer service and whether there are particular issues in the healthcare and grocery industries of which OSHA should be aware. Their comments fell into several broad categories:

● Ensuring workers understand their whistleblower protections
● OSHA workload and staffing
● Workers’ rights in light of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic  jdsupra.com

UK: Visa and Mastercard accused of charging 'excessive' fees
The British Retail Consortium says the fees charged by payment firms have almost doubled in the last two years. They warn that retailers will be forced to pass on the extra costs to consumers, with credit card bills rising by another 40 Pounds a year. However, Mastercard questioned the BRC's findings and said shops were paying less than five years ago.

Retail and hospitality trade bodies have come together to call for action to tackle card fees, as more of them have been forced to accept only card payments due to the pandemic and social distancing rules. In its latest Payments Survey, the BRC said that card schemes were clearly the "least competitive layer of the card payments ecosystem", with a duopoly controlling 98% of the UK market. bbc.com

Global Security Testing Market Expected to Surpass $27,593.9 Million by 2027 at a CAGR of 20.7%

Albertsons unveils contactless payment option at all stores

JCPenney CEO says company expects to exit Chapter 11 ahead of holiday season

True Religion exits bankruptcy
 

Senior LP & AP Jobs Market

Field Divisional Asset Protection Director job posted for CVS Health - Based in Scottsdale, AZ - Covering AZ, CA, WA, MN
As the Field Divisional Asset Protection Director you will be responsible for all aspects of Asset Protection for a specified retail division within CVS. You will directly manage, develop, and recruit Regional Asset Protection Managers in the field. You will be responsible for overseeing all Asset Protection strategies and objectives to enhance awareness among all levels of employees, with the overall objective of mitigating shrink, and protecting the company’s assets by leveraging data analytics insights to improve results. jobs.cvshealth.com