KITCHENER -- Although Waterloo Region is not ordering mandatory face coverings in commercial establishments, a local business says they are left to deal with confused customers as a result.
Vincenzo’s grocery store in Waterloo says that anyone entering the store is strongly encouraged to wear a face mask.
“It protects me from you and you from me,” says Vincenzo’s co-owner Tony Caccioppoli.
Although there are signs posted throughout the store advising customers to wear face masks, store owners say since public health doesn’t require it, neither do they.
“I think if something was publicly mandated it would be easier,” he says.
At first, staff told customers to wear a mask inside the store, but Caccioppoli says it made some shoppers upset.
“Some customers just want to get in a big debate or confrontation about it,” Caccioppoli explains.
For fear of conflict, they stopped requiring customers to wear a mask.
The Region of Waterloo Public Health says while face covering are encouraged when physical distancing isn’t possible, it is not mandatory because officials says it would be difficult to enforce.
“I always think of the one-person operator of a convenience store, and how are they going to enforce this?” says regional chair Karen Redman.
“There's two sides to the coin. One is compliance, and the other is to be a bit of a vigilante. So we're really hoping that we can appeal to the community-minded part of everybody's nature to say ‘you need to do this.”
While Vincenzo’s says they understand some people cannot wear masks because of health concerns, they add they would prefer if public health mandated wearing them in public.
“If it lead to moving on to a stage where we could avoid these line ups outside it means we could let a few more people in, we would be on board,” says Caccioppoli.
Businesses do have the right to turn customers away if they have a mandatory mask policy in place, but that decision is currently being left up to store management.
