For the first time in nearly 40 years, Quality Foods on Vancouver Island will close all their stores for Easter Sunday. The move is a thank you to employees who have been working under challenging conditions since coronavirus was deemed a pandemic by the World Health Organization in March.
B次元官网网址淔or the last 25 or 30 years weB次元官网网址檝e always closed early, at 6 p.m. on Easter Sunday,B次元官网网址� Quality Foods president Noel Hayward said.
The idea of closing for one day over Easter weekend received immediate support from the public as well as employees, Hayward said. B次元官网网址淭heyB次元官网网址檝e been working really, really hard and itB次元官网网址檚 a well-deserved day off. What better way to do it than Easter Sunday?
B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e really proud of what theyB次元官网网址檙e doing,B次元官网网址� he said of Quality FoodsB次元官网网址� employees. There are 1,200 working between the chainB次元官网网址檚 13 grocery stores, located primarily on Vancouver Island.
The chain has been in overwhelming demand since mid-March, as peopleB次元官网网址檚 shopping habits have changed in the time of COVID-19 restrictions.
When the Canadian health agency recommended people stock up with a couple of weeksB次元官网网址� worth of food in case of self-isolation B次元官网网址渋t kind of went nuts,B次元官网网址� Hayward said. B次元官网网址淲e all saw the panic buying of the bathroom tissue. The biggest increase on any item has been on yeast, because everyoneB次元官网网址檚 baking at home.B次元官网网址�
Suppliers are still catching up to demand on many items, he added.
Online ordering and home deliveries also spiked, and Quality FoodsB次元官网网址� technical department expanded its system to accommodate increased traffic.
B次元官网网址淣ormally we have 200 (home deliveries) per week online. Last week IB次元官网网址檓 proud to say we did 1,200. There were as many as 2,500 people shopping online at once.B次元官网网址�
The online shopping site has been streamlined to include certain delivery windows, so people donB次元官网网址檛 have to wait for weeks for their groceries. Quality Foods is also increasing the amount of deliveries it can do per day while limiting people to prevent those who were ordering groceries several times per week, Hayward said.
He also has a tip for people who have been having difficulty processing their orders: disable your popup blockers so you can access the payment processing window. Customer service representatives have been taking a higher than normal volume of calls from people, and that is one of the most common difficulties people are facing.
Staff in the brick-and-mortar stores have scrambled to keep up with safety measures, from installing plexiglas shields between cashiers and the public, to creating one-way aisles in some stores, sanitizing the handles of buggies and the tills after every customer. Employees have also been instructed to wash their hands every 20 minutes, Hayward said.
Foot traffic in stores is down 40 percent but the size of peopleB次元官网网址檚 buggies has doubled in the past month. B次元官网网址淧eople tend to shop once a week like they did in the past. The size of their orders is more than double what it used to be.
B次元官网网址淚n all our time in grocery service who would have thought we would be considered essential service?B次元官网网址�
Once the Easter holiday is over, Hayward said shopping for seniors will resume from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. daily. As for the best time to shop while social distancing? B次元官网网址淎fter 6 p.m. itB次元官网网址檚 quite quiet,B次元官网网址� he said.
susie.quinn@albernivalleynews.com
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