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Updated 04/15/20 1:51 PM
We have always taken great pride in our clean and well-run stores, and we know this is more important than ever right now. We were recently rated as one of the cleanest grocery stores in America by Consumer Reports. We are diligently focused on these standards, adding additional precautions as necessary during the Coronavirus pandemic. On top of our daily cleaning procedures, we’re adding new processes to make our routines even more rigorous. As always, ensuring the health and wellbeing of our customers and Crew members is our highest priority.
We have implemented procedures at all our stores to ensure that the most frequently touched surfaces, including the checkout areas and payment keypads, are regularly cleaned.
During every shopping cart collection Crew will be cleaning our shopping cart handles and the child sitting area. Cashiers will be cleaning the handles of our hand baskets prior to returning them to the hand basket area.
Additionally, we are providing cleaning wipes and/or sprays for customers to use to clean their shopping carts or baskets. While good4u Crew are refilling these stations throughout the day, we ask customers to please notify Crew if they need to be replenished.
We are staffing the front entrance of each store with a Crew member to clean carts for customers as they enter, to ensure social distancing measures are followed and to provide hand sanitizer to customers.
We have also taken steps to ensure the continued availability of affordably priced 100% organic produce, grocery products, household essentials and supplements. All of our stores now close at 8:05 p.m. from Monday – Saturday and at 7:35 p.m. on Sundays so that they can be restocked and cleaned in time for opening the next day.
Natural Grocers has hired temporary workers at all its stores to assist with cleaning and stocking.
At checkout, plexiglass sneeze guards have been installed at each register to help mitigate potential exposure. Additionally, we are now asking customers to bag or box their own purchases. If a customer places a reusable bag or other personal item at the bagging station, Crew will clean the bagging station before assisting the next customer.
As always, Natural Grocers’ bulk items are pre-packaged to preserve freshness, maintain quality and taste, and most importantly right now, reduce contamination.
We have also implemented additional critical policies and guidelines related to the Coronavirus pandemic, including:
Commitment to our good4u Crew is one of our Five Founding Principles. Our Crew members are what make our company great. In the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic and an unprecedented time in which grocery stores are more essential to the wellbeing of their communities than ever before, we have taken a number of steps to thank and protect our good4u Crew.
Natural Grocers has never penalized Crew for calling out sick and we’re requiring sick Crew to stay home. We have always provided our Crew with paid sick leave via our Paid Time Off (PTO) policy, whereby Crew members accumulate PTO that can be used to cover time away from work.
Natural Grocers has implemented the following company-wide policies in light of the Coronavirus pandemic:
Raises and Bonuses
Paid Time Off (PTO) Eligibility Benefits
Health Insurance Benefits and Healthcare
We are offering two shopping hours exclusively for seniors (ages 60 and older), pregnant women and individuals with underlying medical conditions. Anyone included in these categories may be accompanied by someone if they need assistance shopping.
We are providing disposable gloves and face masks to our Crew. Since there is a shortage of masks, multiple Crew members from all parts of the company -- from the Home Office (including Executives) to store Crew -- have lovingly made fabric masks for our in-store, distribution center and bulk manufacturing good4u Crew. Until those masks have been distributed to all stores, we have provided instructions on how our Crew can make suitable fabric face coverings and other types of face masks.
Due to a lack of availability on the open market, we have made our own sanitizer and made it available to each Crew member. We are now working with local Colorado distilleries to source sanitizer which is being given to the Crew to use throughout their shifts.
All stores have social distancing markers on the floor at the register line to show 6 ft. distance and have posted social distancing signs throughout the stores. We have also worked directly with our Crew on best practices for social distances while working in the store and in the back rooms.
Store Crew are making hourly announcements reminding customers of social distancing policies.
We have set a maximum number of customers allowed in our stores at one time based on square footage. In addition, we will be adhering to any city, county or state orders regarding how many people can be in a store at any given time, which may be based on square footage of the store or a percentage of maximum occupancy. Some of our stores will naturally fit within these limits and others will need to have a Crew member at the doors managing the number of people allowed inside.
Plexiglass sneeze guards have been installed at every register to help in adhering to social distancing guidelines and help support the health and wellbeing of our Crew and customers during the check-out process.
Yes. We have begun a health check policy, which requires all Crew to take their temperature and to check for other COVID-19 related symptoms prior to reporting for their shifts. If any Crew have a temperature of 99.6° F degrees or above, they are required to stay until they have been fever-free for at least 72 hours without the use of fever-reducing drugs. Good4u Crew can use their paid time off if they are sick and required to stay home.
Yes. We are allowing customers to continue bringing reusable bags when they shop at Natural Grocers for the following reasons:
In addition to keeping our stores cleaned, our priorities have focused on keeping our shelves stocked with Always AffordableSM fresh 100% organic produce, groceries, household essentials and supplements.
We have worked closely with vendors and suppliers over the last few weeks to keep up with the high demand and the effects of hoarding. Despite our best efforts, customers may have not been able to always find exactly what they were looking for during recent visits to their local store. Our Crew is working diligently to keep up with supply and demand, and we are starting to see the supply chain return to normal, some areas more quickly than others.
Home delivery is available at most of our stores through Instacart at www.instacart.com/natural-grocers
The Hailey, ID; Pagosa Springs, CO; Salida, CO stores do not currently offer Instacart.
Please note: Due to an extremely high volume of orders, Instacart may have delays or cancellations. While we are keeping our Instacart representatives updated on all feedback, we ask our customers to reach out to Instacart for direct support with their orders:
We have put up signs around the stores asking people not to hoard so that there is enough to go around for everyone.
We have also instituted a new return policy, which we hope will help curb hoarding. Natural Grocers will no longer accept returns of prepackaged bulk, special ordered bulk and perishable items (dairy, frozen, deli, meat and produce). Customers will be allowed one (1) return per receipt from other categories in the store (grocery, vitamins and body care). All unopened hand sanitizer will be accepted as returns through May 1, 2020.
Under the circumstances, implementing curbside pickup is not currently feasible. But our good4u Crew is available at any time to help customers, to quickly find what they are looking for and to expedite their visit to the store.
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