Safe Shopping Policies Update

The health of our community is more important than ever to your co-op. During this pandemic, our goal continues to stay open, providing you with a vital grocery service, as safely as possible. Here is an update on our safe shopping policies as we ease some restrictions and maintain others.

You can once again bring reusable shopping bags to the co-op. We had been restricting their use; however, a few things have changed. Recent CDC guidelines suggest coronavirus transmission through surfaces is less of a threat than previously suspected. That coupled with the fact that paper bags are increasingly difficult to source, and the planet-friendly aspect of reusables made the decision clear. For now, we ask that you keep your reusable bags in the cart at checkout and do your own bagging.We are easing a few other restrictions:

• You can once again bring reusable dairy bottles and other cans/bottles with deposits back in the store. Just talk to one of our friendly greeters outside if you have any of these items to redeem.
• We are now accepting cash; however, to limit exposure, we prefer credit cards and contactless payment methods such as Apple Pay whenever possible.

While we are easing some policies, we will keep others in place for the foreseeable future. One of our most noticeable policies is a mask/face covering requirement. Most of our staff and shoppers have expressed support for this. According to the CDC and an overwhelming and growing body of scientists, SARS-CoV-2 is primarily spread from person to person via respiratory droplets and masks or face coverings help prevent the spread.

As Oregon’s phase two includes reopening of hotels and other short-term lodging in Astoria, we anticipate more visitors; however, we do not plan to relax our policy on limiting the number of customers in the store. Keeping in line with advice from public health experts, we want people to have plenty of space to safely work and shop.

If you’re not comfortable coming in the store, or you simply desire the convenience of online shopping, we’ve expanded our curbside grocery pickup program to everyone seven days per week. This is a community service that your co-op is currently offering for free. Please visit our web site for more information.

Here are some of the other measures we are taking to keep our employees and shoppers happy and healthy:

• Requiring masks/face coverings
• Limiting number of customers in store at one time
• Social distancing reminders (at least six feet)
• Asking customers to sanitize hands upon entry
• Installation of hand washing machines and hand sanitizing dispensers throughout store
• You touch it, you buy it policy for fresh produce
• Reduction of certain bulk bins and restricting reusable bulk containers
• Staff person at entrance sanitizing carts after each use and safe shopping education
• Regular sanitation of frequent touch points
• Installation of air scrubbers in HVAC system
• Temporary closure of seating area, hot bar, salad bar and taqueria
• Temporary reduction in hours to allow for crowd-free re-stocking
• Plexiglass protection barriers at check stands
• Daily employee wellness screens
• Expansion of sick pay benefits
• Additional $2/hr. “hero pay” for employees plus an additional week paid time off

If you have any questions or comments about our safe shopping policies, we ask that you do not direct those toward our staff on the sales floor but contact General Manager Matt Stanley.

The co-op will require shoppers, staff and vendors to wear masks or other face coverings beginning Monday. To continue serving our community, we must stay healthy and public health experts say wearing a covering over your nose and mouth is one way to prevent spreading Covid-19 to others.

There is a renewed sense of anxiety among our staff with a virus outbreak at a local seafood processing plant and the state easing stay at home restrictions. Our decision to require masks did not come lightly as we realize it may not be popular for some, but after seeking staff’s input and hearing from customers, we know there’s strong support.

“Nearly all staff have been voluntarily wearing masks; it’s not fun to wear them eight hours a day, but we’re doing it because we feel it is the right thing to protect co-workers and customers from potential asymptomatic spread,” General Manager Matt Stanley said.

The co-op’s mask requirement begins Monday, May 11 until further notice. The requirement does not apply to children under the age of two or individuals who are unable to wear face coverings due to a medical condition. As a courtesy, we will have paper masks available for free at the entrance and will maintain this supply as much as possible.

Of course, masks and face coverings do not replace social distancing, thorough hand washing, and staying home as much as possible. This crisis is an opportunity to come together cooperatively to protect workers who provide vital groceries and to save lives of vulnerable community members. We truly are in this together and are incredibly thankful for your support.

If you have questions or comments about the mask requirement, please contact our general manager, Matt Stanley [email protected]. We ask that you do not direct any comments toward our staff unless it’s positive feedback.

Click here to see other steps we are taking to stop the spread.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendation regarding the use of cloth face coverings.

We’re keeping everything in the store extra clean right now including the air you breath. We’ve installed air scrubbers on all of our HVAC systems, both for the retail sales floor and the back of house staff areas. These air scrubbers use photocatalytic oxidation and UV lights to safely sanitize and reduce particulate in the air. They do not produce ozone, a harmful gas that some air purifiers use. Our HVAC system will be on continuous cycle to keep air moving through the co-op clean. Over time the process sanitizes surfaces too.

General Manager Matt Stanley explains in this short video.

Special thanks to P&L Johnson Mechanical for helping make this happen!

We’re staying open an hour later starting today. Our new hours are 9am–8pm. This will still allow us dedicated stocking time in the a.m. while giving you extra time to stock up on essentials. We are calling these hours “temporary” because it’s totally possible that we will expand hours post pandemic.

By Matt Stanley/General Manager

Another week in our new landscape has passed, and we continue to be inspired by the positivity and incredible adaptability shown by customers and staff alike. These adaptations continue this week:

• We continue to follow the World Health Organization and Center for Disease Control for our primary information for how to best respond to CoVid. Late last week CDC shifted its stance on wearing masks and is now giving guidance indicating the use of cloth masks in public. The CDC has specific instructions on their webpage on how to do so properly so as to reduce risk of exposure. We are working with several local sewers and craft folks to source masks for co-op staff. By the end of the week we will have supplied all co-op staff with two cloth masks so that they can keep them washed daily. Please understand that we are not requiring staff wear masks and that some people have underlying health conditions which make it dangerous for them to do so. We strongly encourage all shoppers who can wear masks to please wear them while shopping at the co-op in order to protect each other and co-op staff as much as possible. It is now reported that up to 50% of cases are asymptomatic so masks protect others from the wearer.
• We are now sanitizing all touch points in the store with an 80% alcohol and hydrogen peroxide solution made locally by Pilot House Distilling per a WHO recipe. Thanks Pilot House Distilling for changing gears so quickly to fulfill this local need!
• We have also installed two hand washing machines in the store. One upon entry and one by the bathroom hallway. Please use the hand washing machine before shopping. It provides an FDA and CDC approved hand wash in 12 seconds. It uses a very mild scent free soap.
• We are exploring making the center aisles one way traffic to assist in the physical distancing. You have all been doing an excellent job maintaining six feet of distance and we appreciate it! We are working on new floor decals to assist in this process.
• Our supply issues have normalized and we are seeing less and less out of stocks with each delivery.
• The co-op continues to remind staff that they should not come to work with ANY flu or cold symptoms. We are also asking them to be on the look out for the strange loss of taste and smell that has been reported. I am acting as the gatekeeper for when folks return to work and we are following CDC guidance for that timeline. The absence of testing requires us to assume that anyone with cold/flu symptoms could be carrying the virus. The co-op is working with staff being asked to stay home for extended periods so that they do not see major financial impacts, either through the Families First Coronovirus Response Act or internal PTO flexibility.
• I encourage you all to write to our governor and state representatives to implore them to support essential workers in the grocery store industry by providing reduced income taxes or some other incentive. Co-op staff are putting themselves at risk everyday in order to provide healthy food to our community. Here is a link to an industry letter to the house and senate.

Thank you for your ongoing support of your local co-op. We will not see the normal influx of tourist traffic this Spring and Summer most likely so it is imperative that folks shop co-op as much as possible so that we can financially sustain our business. We will continue to adapt to the pandemic in the store and provide you with updates as needed.

You can reach Matt at [email protected].