We had stopped doing them after we closed the store to shoppers for a couple of reasons. One reason was that our access to many goods was limited. Do you remember that huge shopping spree that many people went on right as Covid came to town? Our average basket size went from $35 to $100 almost overnight! Manufacturers and wholesalers struggled to recover from that, leaving us with some empty shelves. Over the last 3 months, most of the supply problems have lessened, but we are not where we were in terms of product availability. The other reason was the huge amount of work needed to keep the Curbside Orders getting filled didn’t leave much staff time for processing preorders.

Going forward we will reboot our preorder program with the following changes and disclaimers:

• We reserve the right to delay ordering any preorders if that order will compromise the ability of the coop to continue to serve its membership as a whole.
• We may need to limit the number of cases anyone orders of any one product, depending on supply.
• We will do our best to keep you informed when a product will be unavailable for a long time.
• Preorders can be placed on Curbside orders, but know that they will take approximately 7 – 10 days to come in and will be processed separately.

We know how important preorders are to many of you. They offer value, convenience and sometimes the only way for you to get a product that we don’t normally carry. Please email us here if you have any questions or would like to place a preorder.

We are looking at this reopening as our ‘next normal’. What will be the same is our staff – the majority of us are here and we have missed you! A few have chosen not to return to work because of Coronavirus. The food and other products you are accustomed to seeing on our shelves are here. You may not find your favorite Grab and Go or Bakery items, but we are hoping to restock our full selection soon. A few things have been hard to come by, but for the most part, we are fully stocked. Local produce is just beginning to come in, and you will find vegetables from many familiar farms in our produce department.

The Bulk Department is very important to our members and a big part of what makes the Co-op the Co-op! It is also where you will see the biggest change as we reopen our store. We have chosen to have our staff fill your bulk food needs and not allow shoppers into that aisle. There is no realistic way that we could keep up with the recommended sanitizing protocol for all of those bins, jars and scoops. We also will not be allowing you to refill your own containers – it is just too easy to unwittingly spread the virus this way. We realize that this is sad, given the huge amount of work we all had been doing to reduce plastic and other waste in our shopping routine. It breaks my heart when I see the signs telling us how many 5 cent rebates we gave for the containers we reused. We worked really hard. My hope is that one day we can continue that work, but right now is not the time.

The Wellness department is also a challenge, particularly the middle aisle that is filled with a zillion small bottles! We have decided to close that aisle to shoppers – it is just too narrow to have more than one person in it at a time. We will have it fully staffed at all times to be sure that these products are available to you, and that a Wellness staff person will be there to answer any questions.

We ask that when you come to do your shopping you keep in mind and respect the safety of our other shoppers as well as the staff by following the guidelines that we have put in place.

To achieve this, masks are required by everyone, always. Six-foot social distancing is required. Handle as few things as possible, particularly in the produce department. We will be limiting the number of people in the store at any one time, so we ask that you come by yourself and with a list. Our store is small, which is one of the things that we love about it, but that also makes keeping our distance difficult.

We have instituted a regular cleaning and sanitizing routine throughout the day and hand sanitizer will be available in many locations.

The café area will be closed – instead it will be used for our Curbside order holding area. We will continue to offer the Curbside Co-op option to people who need it. Because of the additional labor, we will now charge a $5 fee. The way we have been doing Curbside was clearly the right thing to do once we closed the Coop to shoppers, but it is not sustainable financially.

We are prepared to change how we do things as our reopening plays out. Please let us know what works for you and what doesn’t.

Know that we are working hard to meet your needs for food and safety!

Alice Rubin, General Manager