Music In Stores - Is It Helping Or Hurting During Covid?

I got up early this morning and quickly made my way to the grocery store when it opened at 7 am. During this time of covid, I just want to get in, get my goods and get out as quickly as possible. I noticed as I was walking up and down the aisles with arrows on the floor that no one seems to follow but me that the music being played was 1) annoying and 2) upbeat. For me, the music is not helping my shopping experience, and actually (for reasons I don't fully understand) escalating the... is panic the right word, maybe.... that I feel when shopping in public. Maybe it's because as I am in full go mode, there are other shoppers quite content to stand in one spot on an aisle and stare at a jar of peanut butter for ten minutes while I on the other hand know exactly what I want. Party music pumping while I stand and try to remain calm is not helping me at all. Then the next song will be some super depressing sounding country song. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but the music isn't helping. Anyone else?

 

Can you just put on earbuds and listen to your own music?

 

I don't like shopping except for music. I've noticed equally awful stuff playing in HMV. Because they play it quite loud it's driven me out a few times.

 

Yeah I think thats what I'm going to have to do

 

I was in a Goodwill a couple of hours ago and the studio version of "Althea" by the Grateful Dead played over the pa. It caught me off guard but I was pleasantly surprised. That is not a song you hear everyday when out in public.

 

If going shopping gives you that much anxiety, there are delivery services you can take advantage of.

I can't say I even noticed if my local grocery store plays music nowadays.

 

I remember reading a quote from Charlie Haden about the 'awful' music they played in stores while he was shopping and that he had to wear ear plugs. It made me wonder what would happen if they played some of his stuff with Ornette in the grocery store.

 

I don't know if it's helping or not.
It's just way too loud.
I'm not just talking about Starbucks or HMV.
I mean places like CVS and Trader Joe's.
Even restaurants.
They play music so loud now.
People in Starbucks shouting at each other.
Is this everywhere?

 

I think having music in stores during this virus is helping in some ways but hurting in others.

By this I mean that for store staff, music makes the work-place more pleasant & I'm sure I read somewhere that listening to music while working made people quicker, more efficient & productive. Still looking at workers point of view, there are staff who will sing along while doing work. Going onto customers if customers enjoy the music they will take longer to decide what they want, they will linger & some will sing along. As there is a limit to how many people are allowed in stores & 1-way systems in stores this will clog up aisles so it will hurt the situation.

 

Local grocery chain always plays music. I,too,visit early,and last week was pleseantly surprised to hear The Weight by The Band.
Haven't been able to visit Ollie's Bargain Outlet due to Carona-19 fears and their history of poor health measures(Take it from someone who worked part-time in one of their most successful stores for eight years and frequently had to mop up more than one catastrophe. Mop heads so filthy I sometimes brought them home for the coin-op washers.) As screwy as the filth was,largely due to extremely tight payrolls that only benefited the powers that be,their music selections have been quite unusual,many times playing lounge classics and light jazz vocals from the '60s -e.g.-The Grass Is Greener by Nancy Wilson playing in the '00s?. With the recent passing of the last co-founder of Ollie's,and possibly the guy interested in the music,that may be changing,though it is still too dangerous for my wife & I to take a chance to enter.

 

No. And many stores have volume control at store level. Separate volume for PA announcements and background music are often available.

 

I go in a grocery store with the required PPE, get what I need and get out. The music in the background is fine, sometimes a song becomes an ear worm for the remainder of the day.

Maybe this one should be streamed in.

 

I’ve never been in a grocery store where the music’s been loud enough to really bother me.

I was in a brewery the other night to grab some take out (there were people hanging out and eating inside) and there was no music or any background noise and it was...super weird. Never really noticed until then because I can’t remember the last time I’d been in a public place with nothing playing. It was almost unsettling.

 

Personally as a worker, I hate music while working because it's always substandard crap on the same loop. I prefer it to be quiet, I concentrate better.

As a customer, meh, same thing really unless it's my record store I go to. Usually I just listen to Spotify or whatever when shopping.

 

I heard “So Much In Love” by the Thymes last night in WholeFoods so that was a good thing

 

All stores need to play only music that I like

 

No

 

That would be nice. I guess the easiest way for that to happen would be for you to learn to like all the music they play. Lol.

 

HMV still open over their ? The've closed them all down around here.

 

I'm seldom even aware it's playing, couldn't care less.

 

I'm about .7% in so far

 

If I wanted to listen to music, I’d listen to music. When I’m shopping I tune it out.

 

Yeah, it was took over by the owner of Sunrise records in Canada a year or two ago. I'm not confident it'll last long but I'd like to be wrong.

 

I don’t think my usual two food stores have music playing. If they do, it must be pretty quiet or I think I’d have noticed it. I haven’t been inside anywhere else since mid-March except for our local pho place for like 2 minutes picking up a takeout order and my 2 usual record stores. The record stores are playing music, of course. The pho place had the TV on, as usual, with no sound.

I’ve gotten curbside pickup everywhere else. I’m mostly getting coffee mailed to me. I’ve also had one record purchase mailed to me and one more delivered by the store when I was sick. I think they’re both still doing deliveries/mail order, but they’re doing what they should and they’re not generally crowded, so I don’t mind going in too much. Probably won’t be queueing for RSD drop days, though. I think I’ll take my chances with waiting a day or mail order for anything I want.

 

And only at the volume I like.