Even as some retailers furloughed thousands, chains that focus on so-called essential goods are announcing hiring sprees to accommodate increased demand during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rite Aid, for one, plans to hire 5,000 associates for full- and part-time roles across the country, including cashiers, pharmacy technicians and distribution-center associates. Kroger has hired more than 2,000 people in its Atlanta division, which includes Georgia, South Carolina and eastern Alabama. And Walmart is on track to fill 150,000 jobs by the end of May and has trimmed its hiring process to "as little as 24 hours.”

Wall Street analysts are singling out J.Crew, JCPenney, Neiman Marcus and Sears as some of the biggest retail chains that will be most hobbled by COVID-19. The retailers all entered the crisis with heavy debt loads.

Not every court is going to let retailers skip rent payments because of the pandemic, but more struggling retailers, such as Pier1, are asking.

Consumers are flocking to their local convenience stores, according to the National Association of Convenience Stores. Grocery sales have increased at more than half the convenience retailers the trade group surveyed last week. Such stores are offering more home products: Fifty-two percent are adding more cleaning/toiletry items, 31 percent are emphasizing ready-to-eat meals, and 28 percent are offering more multipack/bulk items for sale.

Meanwhile, apparel chains are taking to social media to tout their loungewear and other quarantine-friendly merchandise. “The reality is there’s an enormous amount of excess product in the system that’s going to have to be moved through,” Steve Sadove, a senior adviser for Mastercard and former CEO and chairman of Saks Fifth Avenue, told Reuters. “It’s going to have to be liquidated and everyone’s trying to find any way that they can to sell product now.”

Curbside service is one of the ways retailers are maintaining sales. The Container Store, which has closed all stores, is implementing contactless curbside pickup of online orders. Customers picking up their orders can add products to their purchase without entering the store. Some Container Store locations will offer one-customer-at-a-time in-store appointments. Meanwhile, Walgreens has expanded the range of products customers can pick up at its pharmacy drive-through windows to include cleaning and grocery items.

Some retailers are introducing chainwide COVID-19 protocols, while others are doing so following local government directives. Walmart will limit the number of customers in a store to no more than five customers per 1,000 square feet. That’s roughly 20 percent of a typical Walmart store’s capacity. Target and Kroger are taking similar measures. Walmart also is instituting one-way aisles in a number of stores, enforced via floor markers and directions from associates. The company also will start checking worker temps and providing them with masks and gloves. BJ’s, Costco, ShopRite, Walgreens and other supermarket and drug chains have introduced similar measures.

Some chains with government approval to operate nonetheless will close stores on Easter Sunday. Giant, Lowe’s, Sam’s Club, Trader Joe’s and Target are among the companies announcing nationwide closings that day.