The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
IN FOR THE LONG HAUL
Locally owned stores feeling effects of virus outbreak scare
It isn’t just regional and national grocery store chains trying to cope with dramatic increases in demand and sometimes acute supply shortages tied to public concerns about the novel coronavirus.
Business has been extremely brisk, too, at locally-owned Mentor Family Foods and SweetBerry Fresh Market in Wickliffe.
Patrick Conway IV, manager of Mentor Family Foods, is a thirdgeneration employee of the business his family opened 50 years ago on Lake Shore Boulevard just west of the Route 306 intersection.
Conway said the rush at Mentor Family Foods began “almost immediately” after Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on March 12 ordered all schools from kindergarten through high school to be closed.
“We’re seeing a lot of new faces,” Wilson said. “People are hitting every store until they find what they are looking for.” — Ryan Wilson, Sweet Berry Fresh Market manager
“It’s been very hectic since then with no let-up,” Conway said during a brief respite on March 23.
“We’re trying to keep everything as normal as possible, but this is not a normal time,” he added. “For a small business like ours, there is no plan to prepare for what’s happening now. No one has ever seen anything like this. Nothing compares.”
Ryan Wilson, manager of SweetBerry Fresh Market, reported a similar spike in sales triggered initially by DeWine’s order to close schools, The buying-in-bulk has intensified since as consumers react to widespread business closures and stay-athome orders.
“People’s shopping habits have completely changed,” Wilson said. “We’re a fresh market. Customers usually come in two or three times every week, Some of them come every day. Now, people are buying a lot more and planning much further out.”
Mentor Family Foods and SweetBerry Fresh Market were busy places before concerns about the novel coronavirus were amplified earlier this month. The upticks in business at both stores since then are unprecedented.
“The bigger stores got hit before us. After they got hit, it filtered down to us,” Conway said.
“We’re seeing a lot of new faces,” Wilson said. “People are hitting every store until they find what they are looking for.”
At both stores, customers are especially eager to buy fresh meet, primarily chicken and ground beef, produce, bread and dairy products. Mentor Family Foods had placed per-customer limits on purchases of certain meats, eggs and paper products.
Of the paper products, toilet paper is the most difficult item to keep on the shelves at Mentor Family Foods.
“We’ll get two or three deliveries (of toilet paper) per week. Word gets out and it’s gone by mid-afternoon,” Conway said.
SweetBerry Fresh Market does not sell paper products.
At both stores, supply chains have been pushed to the limit by the sharp increases in the number of customers passing through the doors and the quantities of their purchases.
“It’s not a supply issue. It’s a demand issue,” Wilson said. “The supply chain can’t get it to us quickly enough to meet the daily demands.”
Conway said his meat suppliers are currently able to deliver “maybe 40 percent” of the desired order.
Concerns about the spread of novel coronavirus have cut into the workforces at both stores.
As of March 23, Wilson said, 21 of 100 SweetBerry Fresh Market employees have either quit or asked not to be scheduled until health officials declare the spread of the virus has been checked. He’s filled 12 of those vacated positions.
Conway said five of his store’s 47 employees have quit or asked not to be scheduled.
“No one has left because they were sick,” Conway said.
Although they are operating on slightly reduced schedules, both stores are committed to remaining open for customers and keeping shelves as stocked as humanly possible given the circumstances.
“We’re under the impression this is just the beginning,” Conway said. “No one can forecast what’s going to happen.”
The sign in front of Sweet Berry Fresh Market bears this message: WE R HERE 4 u STAY HEALTHY.
“These people and these communities have supported us for six years and made this a successful business,” Wilson said. “Now, it’s our turn. We’re going to do our best to be here for everybody.
“Our employees are working overtime with smiles of their faces,” Wilson added. “I could not be prouder of them. They’ve stepped up in a time of need.”