Dear Paleo Pet Goods Community,
We have been putting plans in place over the past few weeks, proactively reviewing our internal processes and how we can best keep our team and our customers safe during a potential COVID-19 outbreak in our city. With several now confirmed cases of community acquired Coronavirus in Houston and surrounding counties, it is time to put these steps in place. Since this situation is very dynamic, we will continue to adapt and change as necessary. Below, I have provided details about how we will be taking steps to make Social Distancing and heightened sanitation a priority for our customers and employees.
Store Hours – Currently, there will not be any changes to the store hours of Monday thru Saturday 11am to 7pm. Should this change you will be notified immediately.
Sanitation & Cleanliness – We are practicing common sense hygiene in the store areas that are considered high-touch surfaces, such as door handles, the sales counter, iPads, bathrooms, phones, scanners, etc. We use Lysol to disinfect and sanitize these surfaces regularly, however, we are also providing hand sanitizer at the sales counter for your convenience. Before signing the iPad for credit card transactions please take a moment to use hand sanitizer to minimize any germs from remaining on the surface. We also ask that you are the only person to handle your credit cards. Our processor supports touchless payment options such as Smartphone pay and touchless credit cards. Minimizing the use of cash or check payments is also another way that we can practice Social Distancing as the CDC has advised.
Home Delivery Services – In order to carry the practice of Social Distancing over into the purchase and ordering area, we will continue to leave orders on the front porch with a text notification upon arrival for those who utilize our Home Delivery Services.
In-store Pick up or Shopping – You may have noticed that there is a shelf up front with a sign indicating Pick Up Orders. When picking up orders we normally get the order for you to hand it off, or help you out to the car with any heavy items. We will continue to help you with anything heavy as needed, but if you are able we ask that you take your orders off of the pick up shelf instead for as long as the Social Distancing is in effect.
If you frequently stop in to shop, we ask that you start to email orders@paleopetgoods.com with the subject ORDER REQUEST FOR PICK UP. List out the items you would like to pick up in your email, and we will get them ready for you and send an invoice for collecting the payment when it is ready. You may also call the store at 832-240-4063 during business hours to have your items picked and prepared for pick up. Payment can be provided at the same time. When picking up an order you will be able to walk in, say hi from a distance and pick up your order directly from this shelf to keep a Social Distance from others.
For frozen items, simply call ahead about 5 minutes before your arrival and we will bring them to a cooler by the front shelf to maintain proper temperatures, since our freezer must remain in the back room.
Nutrition Counseling – We are very passionate about helping customers with special challenges that pets may have with foods and behaviors that can be managed with supplements and limited diet ingredient options. Since it is hard to keep the required Social Distance when having a conversation regarding these matters, and giving the customer service you have come to enjoy and expect, we would like to handle lengthy conversations like this via phone or Zoom Video meetings when Nutrition Counseling is needed. To set up a time to discuss options for your pet, simply call or email us and we will be happy to help you!
Supply Issues - As much of the country, including our grocery stores, begin to encounter supply issues, we can be very grateful that our distributors are not being affected at this time. Also, the recent travel restrictions placed on European Union travelers does not apply to Cargo shipments. The President issued a tweet after his address to state that the restriction “stops people not goods.” However, as time progresses, certain brands of food could experience a delay in replenishing the warehouses that our products come from. It is still too early to know what will happen in the coming weeks. We will keep you informed of any changes to the availability of the pet foods that you rely on us for and be ready to recommend alternative food options that will service your pets just as well.
Thank you for continuing to support Paleo Pet Goods and other small businesses in our area. The effects of the Pandemic are being felt everywhere and small businesses feel them even more. We will be monitoring the CDC, WHO, and local news for updates and will keep you posted with any additional changes to our process and services. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if we can answer any questions you may have.
Wishing you good health and happiness,
Christine A. Dawson, Owner and Manager
Morgan Caldwell, Retail Store Assistant