PRSM White Paper Highlights the Importance of Clean Retail Environments

The Professional Retail Store Maintenance Association (PRSM) released a white paper, The Evolution of Cleaning in Retail: The New Normal, which explores the importance of cleanliness and how retail facility professionals can help brands meet both shopper and brand cleaning standards in a cost efficient manner that provides a clean safe store environment for both shoppers and sales associates.

A largely unappreciated aspect of maintaining retail stores, cleaning plays a very important role in the success of a business, according to Dan Wagner, director of facility service programs for ISSA – The Worldwide Cleaning Industry Association. In a survey conducted by the association, 95% of shoppers reported that unclean restrooms and unpleasant odors would influence shopping decisions along with dirty floors, spills or stains, dirty shopping carts and other factors.

"Shoppers want to feel comfortable when visiting a retail environment and ensuring that a store is clean and healthy is a crucial part," said Wagner.

From the PRSM white paper, retail facilities management professionals will gain a better understanding of the definition of and the cost of clean for a brand; cleaning health concerns, LEED and green cleaning, contractors’ challenges, specifically recent labor law changes for janitorial services and working with retail procurement, and addressing total cost of ownership.

To assist retail facility professionals, PRSM also launched a Janitorial Workload Tool which uses an interactive spreadsheet that uses information about the store and the desired level of clean to calculate the number of full-time staff required to accomplish the tasks.

“The janitorial landscape has changed dramatically in the last five years,” said Patricia Dameron, PRSM's executive director. “We are entering a new normal for cleaning standards in retail facilities management. Retail brands need to be aware of this under-budgeted area and ensure all stores are meeting brand standards.”

For more information, visit prsm.com.

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