Furniture store Raymour & Flanigan appears to be moving forward with a festive “Friends & Family” sale this weekend, despite ratcheted up efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak.
Sources said the furniture store told employees on Friday that it was moving forward with the sale even after Gov. Cuomo ordered all non-essential businesses close by 8 p.m. on Sunday to contain the spread of the virus.
“It’s a potential breeding ground for problems,” said one source of the store’s weekend sale. “Just as a thinking person during this god-awful time, you’ll have people running up and touching people and the furniture. You’re not wiping everything down.”
To comply with Cuomo’s order, Raymour & Flanigan will close its New York stores starting at 6 p.m. Sunday, a spokeswoman confirmed without addressing the “Friends & Family” sales.
Even prior to the edict, store associates were complaining about the sale. According to a source, sales associates in the Cherry Hill, NJ-region, south of Philadelphia, were being asked to contact valued customers to come to the store for the company’s sale this weekend.
In response to complaints, the home furnishings firm said it would disinfect the stores more and would only allow five to 10 customers at one time “depending on store size.”
It also listed a handful of precautions it was taking, including shortening store opening hours by an hour to 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. from Monday to Saturday, and Sunday hours of 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
But sources complained to The Post that the updated hours did not take into consideration New Jersey’s statewide curfew, which goes into place at 8 p.m.
“How will salespeople get home?” complained a source.
A rep for the Liverpool, NY-based retailer later told The Post that stores would remain open and that New Jersey-based chains would close at 7 p.m. so that employees could get home before the state’s mandated 8 p.m. curfew, which was instated on Wednesday.
