Frontline workers: Andrew the grocer

Andrew Marshall, manager of the Benalla Grocer on Waller St, said the store had remained open throughout the pandemic.

“We’ve hired extra cleaning staff, and we've put a corona cleaning program in place,” Andrew said.

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“We've really upped our game on sanitising the store, and products.

“We have our plastic customer screens and have been all wearing masks.

“I guess we’ve had to do pretty much what everyone else has had to.

“We've had some extra training for our staff as well, to make sure they are doing the right things and practicing social distancing as much as possible.”

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Andrew said one of the more positive outcomes for the store throughout the pandemic was they had gotten a bit busier.

“I think a lot of people who live on this side of town have been coming here for convenience,” he said.

There is also the benefit that shopping close to home avoids unnecessary travel, and some people might feel a bit safer in a smaller store without the crowds you might see at Benalla's larger supermarkets.

Andrew said the biggest challenges he, and the store, had faced came in the early stages of the pandemic.

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“I guess for me as a manger, the biggest challenge was getting the messages about social distancing and all the rules of the restrictions out to all our staff,” Andrew said.

“And at the start some customers were a bit unhappy about the changes we have had to implement.

“But everyone has generally been pretty good, and the few that were not very happy have accepted that the situation is out of our hands.

“We also had a bit of an issue early on getting some of our products in, when there was still some panic shopping going on.”

Andrew said at one stage they were also operating on reduced hours, but they are now back to normal.

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