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Our 4/6/2020 COVID-19 Update

Update from Monday April 6th: 

Hello on an almost-spring morning! 

Something you should know about me, Katy, owner and founder of HL. Yes, I started my tiny little store 35 years ago because I loved food and wanted better food to be available. And yes, I continue to love food, farms, farmers and local producers, and being a vibrant community meeting place. But over the years, I’ve become more in love with another aspect of my business: providing jobs, building teams, being a place of business where staff can learn, grow, and perhaps move on to bigger and better things.  I have always had the utmost respect for every member of our team….and now, today, that respect has truly grown. Because our staff are the heroes right now who continue to come to work, and do what it takes to make food available to our community. 

So at their request I’m BEGGING you to protect them by following the guidelines set forth by the CDC: 

• Shop only when you need to and reduce frequent trips. Although we love to see you, right now is the time to make lists and visit us when your list is full! 
• The fewer people in any given space, the safer it is for everyone. Avoid shopping as a family unit; just send one healthy person to shop and consider wearing a mask. 

• If you are sick, stay home. 
• Take dirty wipes and gloves out of your carts. This last one is so important.  We continue to see used wipes, paper towels, and tissues left in carts, thrown on the floor of the store, etc. Please….let’s not have this happening. 

Many of you have written to me asking how we’re doing and “is it difficult to be running HL right now?” How we’re doing: we’re more than hanging in there, happy our shelves are full, working night and day to keep everyone safe.  Is it difficult? Definitely, but we have the right stuff to keep things moving in the right direction.   

Here some new things in place at our stores: 

• Everyone on staff is wearing a mask 

• During peak hours we will be limiting guest traffic in our stores. In order to give everyone (Staff and Guests) the proper amount of space to freely move around the store and observe the six foot rule at all times, you may be asked to wait for a guest to exit before you may enter when you arrive to shop. We know this is not ideal, but it is the safest way for us to operate right now and we ask for your patience. You’ll be greeted by someone on staff who’s busy cleaning carts and watching for guests to exit so you can enter! 
• All staff will be wearing gloves to handle money, coupons, etc.  
• We will not be accepting bottle returns for the time being. We WILL take glass milk bottles, but we will ask guests to place their milk bottles in designated crates outside the store to reduce the amount of outside items we handle 
• Sanitizing continues! 

With HL2GO as busy as it is, there are fewer guests in the store, making it safer to come in. It’s usually slower during these hours: 

• Early mornings before 10am 
• 7-9pm 

On a lighter note, you just can’t stop SPRING and we are starting to see some local spring produce pop into the store like tender greens, sweet baby carrots, and more. We’ve heard rumors from our berry farmer friends that strawberries are a few weeks away.  

Our number one message to you this week: Help us help our staff.  Give them space, shop with care, shower them with love! We are indebted to them to keep our doors open – THANK YOU in advance!