Grocery stores adjust to social distancing

California's local grocery stores have made some adjustments since social distancing has come into play due to the coronavirus outbreak.

As essential businesses, grocery stores have remained open throughout the pandemic thus far. Businesses have had to take steps to protect members of the public who have needed to go in public.

C&R Supermarket shift manager Preston Burnett said the big adjustment they made is installing markers for their customers.

"So we can only fit three people at our registers at a time," Burnett said. "In all of our aisles, we have 6 foot markers, and we have arrows everywhere. It kind of makes it harder for people to shop. You can only go (one way) up an aisle, you can not go down it (the other direction)."

Burnett said most people just ignore the arrows at the store. Another change is the employees at the store are constantly cleaning.

"We have somebody cleaning the store every 30 minutes, if not more," Burnett said.

Burnett said people should avoid coming into the store in a big crowd.

C&R is not the only grocery store to make some modifications. Zachary Holliday, an assistant manager at Cal's Thriftway, said the store has started taking call-in orders for curbside pick ups. Holliday said curbside pick up has gotten positive reactions from customers.

Holliday said the store has also done more cleaning.

Cal's manager Troy Schmidt said the store tries to have its staff wear masks and gloves when working. Schmidt said they also have markers to try to keep people to 6 feet away from each other.

Schmidt said most of its customers have adapted to the changes the store has made.

"We are just doing what we have to do, and we have not had too many complaints," Schmidt said. "We have had a few, of course, but you always do, but nothing too major."

Schmidt said that right now, there are plenty of items the store is unable to get from its suppliers, but they are still working to get those items.

"We are doing the best we can," Schmidt said. "We are ordering it, trying to get it and doing the best we can, but there are a lot of items that we are unable to get from the warehouse and, of course, they are unable to get it from the manufacturer. I would ask for patience on that part, because we are doing the best we can trying to keep stuff in here."