LAKEWOOD, Colo., March 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- In a letter from
the Isely family, Natural Grocers announced that effective
immediately all 157 Natural Grocers stores will be closing at
7:35 p.m. so that good4u Crews can
restock and thoroughly clean their stores. All stores will open at
their normal posted times. These new closing hours will remain in
effect until further notice.
Natural Grocers was founded by Margaret
and Philip Isely in 1955 to help improve the health and
wellbeing of our communities and help all families to thrive.
Today, the Isely family believes that everyone deserves to have
access to fresh, affordable high-quality foods, household
essentials and supplements, especially in times of uncertainty. To
help support the communities it serves, Natural Grocers continues
to focus on regularly cleaning the most frequently touched surfaces
in its stores, and the good4u Crews are working to keep shelves
stocked with household essentials, supplements and healthy
foods.
The complete letter from the Isely family with additional
updates regarding the Coronavirus is below and available at
www.natrualgrocers.com.
To locate the closest Natural Grocers store, visit the store
directory. For customers who may be feeling ill, home delivery is
available at most of Natural Grocers locations through
Instacart.
A Few More Updates Regarding the
Coronavirus
Every day brings in new information about the coronavirus and
steps to take to help mitigate its spread. We understand that
uncertainty about what will happen next and concern for our loved
ones are creating worry and some fear. We're here for our customers
and communities when you need us the most with open stores and
caring service. We believe that everyone deserves to have access to
fresh, affordable high-quality foods, household essentials and
supplements, especially in times of uncertainty. To help support
you, we continue to focus on regularly cleaning the most frequently
touched surfaces in our stores, and our good4u Crews are working to
keep our shelves stocked with household essentials, supplements and
healthy foods.
Below are some more updates regarding other steps we are
taking:
- Effective immediately, we will be closing all our stores at
7:35 p.m. so that we can restock and
thoroughly clean. All stores will open at their normal posted
times.
- We are requesting that customers purchase only what they need
and do not hoard products. This will help support the health and
wellbeing of our communities. During times of community-spread
illness, it is critical for our communal health that all people can
find the products they need to support their health and the health
of their families. This is not possible if a few people purchase
more than they need.
- Out of an abundance of caution, we have cancelled all in-store
nutrition education classes and recipe demos through the end of
March.
- We have cancelled all sampling of products, except for
prepackaged samples.
- We have closed our on-tap Kombucha stations through the end of
March.
- We have removed all testers and will replace with new ones once
the pandemic has abated.
As a reminder for customers who may be feeling ill, home
delivery is available at most of our stores through Instacart.
Commitment to our good4u Crew is one of our Five Founding
Principles. During these uncertain times, we are continuing to
focus on implementing new ways we can support our good4u Crew, so
that they can take care of themselves and their families. We are
providing them with daily, free immune supporting supplements, at
their discretion. We are working on a process to help ensure our
Crews can find the products they need when they have time to shop
by allowing them to request that we hold a few essential items for
them. We have expanded our Paid Time Off policies to ensure that if
a Crew member is ill, they can take time away from work. In
addition to providing our Crew with paid sick leave via our Paid
Time Off policy, we will also be providing up to 2 weeks of paid
leave to all Crew (both full-time and part-time) if they are
diagnosed with COVID-19 or if they are placed under mandatory
quarantine by public health authorities. If a Crew member is unable
to return to work after that, additional pay replacement may be
provided for up to an additional 12 weeks under our short-term
disability benefit. Additionally, we have never penalized Crew for
calling out sick and we're encouraging Crew to stay home if they
are ill.
Our Crew is working diligently to make sure that the products
you want are available when you need them. Fear and worry over the
pandemic are driving unprecedented demand for all grocery items,
especially for cleaning products, supplements, pantry stock-up
items, toilet paper and healthy foods, and causing us to have empty
shelves at times. We are working to get product to our stores and
up onto our shelves as quickly as possible.
Our company was founded to help improve the health and wellbeing
of our communities and help all our families to thrive. We are
working hard to take care of our Crew and to keep our stores clean,
stocked and open so that we can be there for you and your
family.
The Isely Family
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