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their faces.

Many of the retailers said the extra hourly pay was meant to reward employees while they worked through months of wildly surging sales. But lately, there is less reason for the large raises, the companies said.

“As states continue to reopen, we are returning to PRE-COVID levels of traffic and demand,” Stop & Shop said in a statement.

And that has changed the economics for employers, even as the health

threats and other challenges for workers remain.

In the early weeks of the virus, panic-buying generated record sales for retailers selling food, health care products and other essential goods.

Those surging sales helped offset the costs retailers were incurring to upgrade their stores with plexiglass barriers and provide masks and hand sanitizer to workers. It also helped fund pay raises for current employees and to recruit new workers to keep up with the crushing demand.

But a more sobering financial reality is setting in for

some companies. On Thursday, Walgreens said labor costs and frequent store cleanings increased overall expenses and contributed to a loss in the third quarter. The company, which had provided full-time workers with a $300 bonus in early April, has not announced plans to provide any additional bonuses and is focused instead on cutting costs.

For some grocery chains, business may no longer be hitting records. But sales are still booming as Americans continue to eat nearly all of their meals at home.

Last month, Kroger said its quarterly operating profits

rose 47 percent, to $1.3 billion. The grocery chain ended its $2-an-hour pay raise enacted in the early weeks of the pandemic. But it recently paid bonuses to employees “to acknowledge their dedication to maintaining safe, clean and stocked stores,” Kroger said in a statement.

Amazon, and its Whole Foods unit, had been paying store and warehouse workers an additional $2 an hour. Amazon ended those raises and has opted to give out bonuses, as high as $500, last month.

Target paid its workers an additional $2 an hour

through July 4 and then gave all workers in its stores a $200 bonus. Target said it was raising its starting wage to $15 an hour, though that was something the retailer had committed to do this year before the pandemic.

Instead of raises, Walmart paid special bonuses in April and late last month and is planning another round for September.

Union officials say ending the raises hurt part-time workers the most because they have tended to receive smaller bonuses.

Corkery writes for The New York Times.