*To serve our amazing community during this difficult time, we will remain open 9am - 6pm seven days a week, with the first two hours reserved for high risk shoppers.
9-11am - Reserved for high risk shoppers (seniors and immune compromised) to receive curbside service, Monday through Friday. You will not need to get out of your car. Bring a detailed shopping list and we will shop for you. We will also run your card. Note: For the first hour, 9-10am, the store will NOT be open for in-store purchases. All we will be offering for the first hour is curbside service, and a friendly team member will meet you in the parking lot.
10-11am - In addition to curbside service for high risk people M-F, the Co-op will also be open for high risk shoppers who wish to enter the store.
11am-6pm - General Hours for all. We are also happy to shop for you. All you have to do is bring a detailed shopping list to the front door and wait outside. We will bring the groceries out to you (this service is for anyone, regardless of health). Please make sure your list is complete and readable.
For your safety, please do not bring reusable bags into the store. Instead, use a basket or shopping cart and load groceries into our clean paper bags.
We encourage shoppers to wear a mask or cloth covering over your nose and mouth.
5 people are admitted into the store at any time, for your safety. Please keep six feet away from other shoppers.
Weekly Fresh Deals Produce Specials on pause for now
Self-serve bulk and hot soup suspended (pre-packaged bulk goods and jarred soup available)
Special orders discontinued for now
No returns are permitted at this time, including jar and bottle returns. Returns will be honored at a later date.
Weekly Fresh Deals Produce Specials on pause for now
A letter from our General Manager
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Important edit: As of April 8, 2020 temporary hours are 9am-6 pm., with the first 2 hours reserved for high risk individuals and the first hour reserved solely for curbside pickup.
In light of the ever changing landscape surrounding COVID-19 and it's impact on our community, I wanted to reach out to you all to let you know how your Co-op is responding to protect the health of our staff, shoppers, and community.
We've spent the last few days reviewing CDC recommendations, as well as what measures our Co-op counterparts are taking across the country. We’ve landed on the following precautionary steps, with the intent to remain open and to serve our community throughout the duration of this pandemic.
What we're doing:
We have increased the frequency of our cleaning and disinfecting throughout the store, particularly in 'high-touch' areas, with extra focus on the cash register area, which is the common point of contact for all customers. Additionally, we've installed a sanitizing wipe dispenser right by our entrance for customers to wipe down carts and hands.
We've suspended all sampling throughout the store. If there's a product you would like to try before you buy, please just let one of our amazing team members know.
We are actively encouraging employees to stay home if they are sick, and have extra precautionary measures, including a 5 day waiting period, if an employee displays any symptoms of COVID-19. To ensure our staff feel comfortable staying home if they're sick, we have gone to great lengths to offer our employees assistance so they will face no financial hardships if they are unable to work.
In order to reduce the risk of exposure to raw unpackaged foods and ready to eat foods, we will be closing our self service soup, coffee, and pastries, as well as all bulk foods, herbs, and teas.
Our soup will still be available jarred in our refrigerated grab-and-go case for you to heat up at home. Staple bulk food items will be packaged in a sanitized work space and will be put out for you to purchase by the package. Believe me: none of us are happy about the added packaging, but we're doing what we feel is best for the health of our community.
It is high risk to have people eating in close proximity, so we will be removing the interior seating at the end of our prepared foods department. We ask that you please eat at home.
The CDC recommends that people maintain at least six feet between each other, and in order to make this possible in our store we will be limiting the number of people who can be in the store at a time. Additionally, as the cashier is the common point of contact for all customers, we will be taping off a safe distance to maintain from the cashier, for the health safety of all customers as well as our cashiers.
For those of you who have compromised immune systems, or are age 65 or older, and do not have someone who can shop for you, we will be designating the first hour (8am - 9am) of every day for you to shop. During this time, we will be further limiting how many shoppers can be in the store and prioritizing seniors and those at highest risk to shop first. Additionally, we are reviewing our options for delivery, but do not have a viable option as of yet. We'll keep you posted.
Additional Considerations:
We want to be transparent about the fact that the entire grocery food industry is under tremendous stress with all of the stocking up that everyone has been doing, and our primary supplier, United Natural Foods, is limiting the volume any one store may order. They simply do not have enough trucks and staff to keep up with the current demand. With this in mind we are suspending our Special Order Program, to ensure your Co-op's volume allotment will be going to stocked shelves for the community. I want to be perfectly clear that there is—and will be—plenty of food for everyone. This is not a scarcity of food issue, this is a shipping and logistics issue.
Additionally, we may have trouble getting the brands we normally stock, and you may see substitutions on our shelves, some of which may not be Organic and/or Non-GMO. Please understand that we will be getting back to normal as soon as we can.
Currently our wonderful staff are working tirelessly to keep up with the increased demand, and because of this, some programs (like our Fresh Deals) may be postponed. We will resume them as soon as we are able.
Beginning tomorrow, Thursday, March 19 at 5 p.m., our SLO County Government has ordered all SLO County residents to "shelter in place." We encourage all of our customer to follow this order, stay at home, chill out and relax. But, if you need food, during Shelter In Place, you are allowed to go grocery shopping.
Our hours are currently 10am-6 p.m. We have reduced hours in an effort to keep our staff healthy while we continue to serve our community. All upcoming public events for March and April will be postposed for the time being.
We ask for your patience and understanding. We are taking these measures in order to remain open and provide a vital service to you, our community. We are looking forward to getting back to normal as much as you are, and for the interim, please think of your neighbor, be kind, and we will come out the other side stronger together.
