COVID-19 & Garden Centre Updates

By bam on April 8th, 2020 |

This note has been updated on April 17th to cover 2 things:

COVID-19 Updates
Garden Centre- Order online now!

1. COVID-19 Updates

Hi, how’s everyone doing?

We’re okay. Relatively speaking. And it’s all relative, isn’t it? It has to be. I mean, it’s not hard to imagine how things could be even worse. There are people suffering more in many places.

That said, there are things we can do to reduce our exposure and, not unrelated, our stress levels.

If you’re new to the list of measures we’re already employing, please see our previous COVID-19 related updates.

The hands-down, flat-out, biggest challenge we’re having right now is policing social-distancing.

That’s because:

Policing is great if you’re a law enforcement professional but sucks if you’re a grocery store. Fiesta means party and police at a party is rarely good news.
Social-distancing never feels like a good idea but is the opposite of the reason many people have come to us for 30+ years.
We’re exhausted. Not just physically. Mentally.

We’re not an epidemiologist. And even the ones we follow don’t have all the answers yet. But we’re working our hardest to balance delivering a service people need while protecting our customers, staff, and our ability to continue delivering said service.

Here’s what you can do to help. Please:

Come alone if you can. If you need to bring a child, please keep them close to you.
If you have a stroller, come between 8 am – 9 am Monday through Saturday.
Stay alert to social distancing. It’s hard–there’s lots to look at in the aisles. Just try.
Please try to avoid our staff. We’re stocking shelves constantly because full shelves keep people calm and help them move quickly. And we’re shopping for our delivery service, which serves people who are at extreme risk if they contract the virus. Sorry!
Get in and get out. Be polite, but less social (Argh. Writing this is hard).
Please try to be extra patient with our staff and each other. We don’t tolerate rudeness in general, but right now we all need to channel Ghandi.
Do not come during our dedicated hours for higher-risk people if you are not a member of this population.

Before you share advice or complain about a lapse you’ve seen, please honestly consider your objective for sharing the information. If there’s a chance we’re already doing everything we can and your information will just demoralize someone and require resources to process and respond to, maybe keep that tip in draft mode.

We’re ALL–and I mean, most of the world, on edge. Please try not to take out your stress out on us.

Under normal circumstances, we can remind ourselves that every person we meet is going through something, take deep breaths and try to make a customer happy. We can reframe impatience, frustration–even rudeness, and imagine the person is having a bad day and doesn’t mean to take it out in us.

These are not normal circumstances. Our ability to reframe is compromised.

And all THAT said, please continue to share your warm words.

Anecdotally, five out of six people and the messages they send through our contact form and social channels lift our spirits.

Some of your messages move us to tears.

Please know that we’re sharing these messages internally.

2. Garden Centre

With Fiesta Gardens closed to walk-in visitors due to COVID-19, we’ve set up an online store where you can purchase your bagged soil/stone, fertilizer, bulbs & seeds, spring seedlings and more for curbside pickup or delivery.