How Lancaster Archery Supply Hits the Mark on Customer Safety Amid COVID-19

If you’ve never tried shooting bows at Lancaster Archery Supply, then you don’t know what you’re missing. (No pun intended.)

We’re not even talking about what they offer — which is all sorts of bows, crossbows, archery gear, and shooting ranges — but how they offer it.

Lancaster Archery Supply is a shining example for all businesses who truly care about their customers’ safety in these trying times. We urge you to take a look at and get inspired by this video from Lancaster:

In this video, P. J. Riley is walking us through the rules and restrictions they have at one of their pro shops. The video was made ahead of the shop’s opening on June 5, preceded by the state of Pennsylvania lifting the restrictions for local businesses.

Here’s how Lancaster Archery decided to approach reopening their locations and respect safety guidelines at the same time.

First of all, Riley shows how to contactlessly check into line on your phone, without going to the store. He opens up a Lancaster’s special Visit Planner page, which shows real-time information about the location, plus gives visitors the means to check in themselves.

“I can see how many people are waiting in line currently, what my average wait time is, and then I can remotely get into that line.”

All it takes is to type in his name and phone number.

This way, when the shop employees are ready to service the customer, they will give him a call. Meanwhile, the customer can stay safely in a car and respect social distancing.

When called up, Riley prepares to enter the store and hooks on a mask — an important accessory, which Lancaster Archery Supply wants you to know it has them in stock.

The shopping experience at Lancaster’s pro shop is markedly different now.

First of all, you will notice social distancing signage, which encourages a six-feet distance between customers. There are also posters explaining that the number of people who can stay indoors are limited.

In the case of this particular store, it’s 50 people max, including employees.

Of course, there are hand sanitizers for customers to use upon entering the store. To further minimize the risks, there are now plexiglas dividers separating the customers from the employees.

This helps protect both parties from airborne infections, without disrupting the usual service procedure. (Naturally, all surfaces, dividers included, are regularly disinfected by the staff.)

Lastly, the indoors shooting range has also been modified to take safety into account. Some of the lanes are temporarily closed, so that customers can socially distance themselves.

There are three shooters at a time, with a considerable distance between one another.

When it comes to the matters of customer and employee safety, it’s hard to go overboard. Lancaster Archery Supply hits the mark (again, no pun intended) and shows all other businesses, big and small, how it’s done.

COVID-19 has greatly changed the landscape of customer service in 2020, but it doesn’t mean that empathy should go out the window.

P. J. Riley finishes the video with some heartfelt words that every customer-centric company could sign under:

“It’s going to be a different experience for a little while, and that’s ok. You have some patience with us, we’ll have some patience as well. We’ll get through this together, but most importantly we’ll all be shooting our bows together.”