Made to Order
The COVID-19 pandemic has rippled through every area of society changing the way we work, connect and shop.
For example, the Butler Farm Market, 901 Evans City Road in Renfrew, had been filling shoppers' orders since the end of March with delivery to their customers' cars in the parking lot, keeping people out of the store and away from the staff.
The store began re-admitting customers May 15 but delivery to cars is still a feature of the store's operations.
“We set up a 20-by-20 tent,” said Butler Farm Market owner Eric Shiever. “They drive through the tent, someone writes their order down and takes their credit card.”
Shoppers fill the customers' orders in the store, run the credit card, print a receipt and gloved and masked employees take the orders and the receipts to the customers' vehicles.It was a whole new world for Peter Record, the produce manager at Butler Farm Market for more than two years.“Before the pandemic, I controlled the stocking of all the produce and the pricing, I was in charge of all the department — the people, the counters — and I dealt with the restaurants that bought wholesale products,” Record said.“Since the pandemic, I do almost everything possible, I shop, I run the registers, I run things out to the cars, I take orders,” he said. “I'm not worried about infecting people because we are doing things in a very clean way.”He said he doesn't feel threatened by the COVID-19 virus at work and employees are gloved and masked even when there are no shoppers in the store.Record said although the store began admitting masked customers May 15, it still has its delivery system in place, if slighty modified.“We're still doing curb-side service, but it's for call-in orders,” he said. “You call your order in and we will have it ready by 10 a.m. the next day.”
Record says he thinks the market is conducting its business in the right way. He's just worried it will be business as usual too soon.“I know people get very upset, but I just worry we might get back into it too quickly,” he said. “We might get tired of doing what we are doing and go back too quick.”The pandemic has changed some buying habits.“We sold a lot more things that you have to prep for like squash, pineapples and such. My thinking is that people have more time to do the prep work on that,” he said.Record said he hasn't seen any disruptions in the food supply chain such as those that have left some stores limiting meat sales.“We are doing pretty OK. The prices of tomatoes are way up because Mexico and California aren't shipping for some reason,” Record said.“There hasn't been any really crazy buying of produce because produce goes bad and you can't really stock up on it,” he said.
Shiever said milk, meat and produce sales are up since the car-side delivery went into operation.“The deli's doing fine, and I've sold more yeast in the last month and a half than I have in the last decade,” Shiever said.Candy sales and other impulse buys have taken a hit, he added.He's had hired more high school and college students to run groceries to cars.“We have a lot of older people shop here and a lot of them appreciate what we are doing,” Record said.“They would prefer to shop here, and they are happy at what we are doing because it keeps people safe,” he said.
