COVID-19 Retail Restart Plan

The Province of Ontario is making positive strides to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus and that is a result of the leadership in government and the majority of citizens who have made many sacrifices to stay distant from loved ones and friends. 

We also owe immeasurable gratitude to the frontline healthcare workers who literally put their lives on the line every day to care for those suffering with this virus. This extends to all the other "everyday" workers who keep the world as normal as possible. Thank you to the workers in grocery stores, coffee shops, "liquid refreshment" supply and takeaway restaurants. 

On March 10 we re-opened our store to walk-in shopping. This was our first day to welcome customers back into our store since the middle of November last year.

Naturally, this re-opening will come with conditions to protect our customers and ourselves. These conditions have been developed with guidance from the Government of Ontario.

We will be doing several things on our end to safely re-open. We will also need you, our customer to agree to do certain things as well.

What we will be doing

• Cleaning - we always kept our shop clean but we will doing it more than usual. Wiping down the shelves, freezers, our payment equipment, door handles and other high-touch surfaces will occur all day long.
• Baskets - we will be disinfecting shopping baskets after each use.
• Counter Shields - we will be hanging clear plastic barriers at our counters to protect against coughs or sneezes between us or our customers.
• Spacing - our store is not very big and we only have one door to enter and leave the store. We will be placing floor markings at the checkout counter to encourage spacing. We will also control the direction people take when entering and leaving the store.
• Curbside Pickup - we are going to continue doing all our Click & Collect Pickup orders at our curbside. This will reduce the number of people who need to come into the store and is also good for customers who are not quite ready to go into places where distancing can be a challenge.
• Shorter Hours - we are going to continue with our shorter weekday hours (10am - 5pm) and staying closed Mondays.

What we need our customers to do

• Spacing - our store is not huge and staying 2 metres apart at all times is very difficult. We are limiting our customers to a maximum of 5 in the store at any given time. We ask that our customers use caution and common sense to stay as far apart from others as possible.
• Face Masks - because of the spacing issue, we ask that all customers wear a face mask while in the store. This is  strongly encouraged by all medical experts when the recommended spacing is difficult to maintain.
• Gloves - we are providing free disposable gloves at our entrance. Put them on when you come in and throw them away in our green bin when you leave. We keep our shelves clean but we can't keep every can or packet wiped down while customers are shopping. 
• Shop Solo - if at all possible, shop on your own. We can allow up to 2 people shopping together but that counts against the total of 5 allowed. 
• Children - we respectfully ask that you do not bring your children shopping with you. Not only do they count as a shopper, we know that children will naturally wander and like to touch. We love kids but now is not the time to bring them shopping with you if you can avoid it.