Dollar Tree has quietly gone back on its policy of making masks mandatory for all shoppers, as other retailers do exactly the opposite

• Dollar Tree no longer requires shoppers to wear masks in its stores unless mandated by the state.
• The dollar chain quietly reversed its mask rule on Thursday despite several other major retailers – including Walmart, Kroger, and Target – doing exactly the opposite this week and making masks mandatory for their shoppers.
• The decision to do so comes after reports of workers at many different retailers being attacked by customers after they were asked to wear a mask or were refused entry to a store if they didn't.

Dollar Tree shoppers are no longer required to wear masks in its stores unless mandated by state law.

The dollar chain quietly reversed its policy on masks in an announcement on Thursday. It had previously required all customers to wear face coverings while shopping at its 15,000-plus stores in the US but as of Thursday, this is merely a request and not a requirement.

Forbes was first to report the news.

"In accordance with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), we are requiring all Associates and vendors to wear face coverings when inside our stores. We also request that our customers wear face coverings, and require face coverings where required by state or local ordinance," the company said in a statement on its website.

A spokesperson for Dollar Tree declined to comment beyond this statement when contacted by Business Insider.

The company's decision to reverse this policy comes after several major retailers including Walmart, Kroger, Target, CVS, and Kohl's, announced this week they had made masks mandatory for all shoppers.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) issued a statement on Wednesday urging other retailers to follow Walmart and others' lead by implementing a nationwide mandatory mask policy for shoppers to protect workers.

"The health and safety of associates and customers is retailers' number one priority and wearing a face covering or mask is scientifically proven to reduce the spread of COVID-19. NRF applauds the leadership of companies like Walmart, Starbucks, Best Buy, BJ's Wholesale Club, Apple, Qurate Retail Group, Costco, and others that have implemented nationwide mask mandates," the NRF said.

The decision to do so comes after reports of workers at various retailers being attacked by customers after being asked to wear a mask or being refused entry to a store if they did not.

One of the most tragic mask-related incidents occurred at a Family Dollar store in May when a security guard was shot and killed after he stopped a customer from entering the store because her daughter wasn't wearing a mask. The Family Dollar chain is owned by Dollar Tree.

At the time, experts said that was representative of a trend of customers becoming more aggressive to retail workers and security guards at stores in the US because of new rules and restrictions put in place during the pandemic. In the past few months, this trend has only intensified.

Business Insider's Irene Jiang reported two other incidents at Walmart stores this month. In one case, a Louisiana man was arrested for assaulting a police officer after he was asked to leave a store for not wearing a mask. Earlier in the month, another shopper at a South Florida location pulled a gun during a dispute over masks.