Business

Aldi, Meijer ask customers to stop openly carrying guns in their stores

by Aris Folley - 09/10/19 4:33 PM ET

Meijer and Aldi have become the latest supermarket chains to ask their customers to stop openly carrying firearms in their stores.

“The safety of our customers and team members is our top priority, so we respectfully request that our customers do not open carry firearms at Meijer,” the chain, which operates throughout the Midwest, tweeted on Monday afternoon.

The safety of our customers and team members is our top priority, so we respectfully request that our customers do not open carry firearms at Meijer. We’ve made this decision because open carry can create an environment that makes our customers and team members feel unsafe.

— Meijer (@meijer) September 9, 2019

Aldi, which runs thousands of discount supermarket chains in multiple countries, shared a similar announcement on Twitter.

At ALDI, the safety of our employees, customers and the community is our highest priority. Alongside many other businesses, we are asking that our customers refrain from openly displaying firearms in any of our stores, except for authorized law enforcement personnel.

— ALDI USA (@AldiUSA) September 9, 2019

The two chains are the latest in a growing list of businesses to ask their customers to no longer openly carry firearms in store locations in the past week.

{mosads}Walmart was among the first major retail businesses to ask its customers to stop openly carrying firearms earlier this month after a mass shooting at its store in El Paso, Texas, left 22 people dead last month.

At the time, Walmart also announced that it will be discontinuing sales on certain types of ammunition, including short-barrel rifle ammunition.

“We’ve also been listening to a lot of people inside and outside our company as we think about the role we can play in helping to make the country safer,” Doug McMillon, the president and CEO of Walmart Inc., wrote in a letter to associates then.

“It’s clear to us that the status quo is unacceptable,” he added.

Tags Gun reform gun violence Mass shootings open carry Twitter Walmart Inc.