Does your Grocery Store Do This? 5 Ways Businesses Can Step Up During COVID-19 Luup Follow Apr 14 · 5 min read

Chances are, you’ve heard some pretty freaky news on what’s going on in the world right now. If your faith in humanity is going down, we understand. However, there are also plenty of amazing initiatives happening in the community we can focus on. Let’s celebrate businesses that are stepping up and helping out during this crisis.

We want to encourage more businesses to pitch in by highlighting some great work already being done.

1. Supporting Local Grocery Staff and COVID-19 Front-line Workers ✊

It’s dangerous out there! People working in essential services are taking a risk to provide for our needs. Here’s how some businesses are showing their appreciation. The ones that haven’t yet can learn from their example!

💰 Time for a raise! Bonuses and Increased Wages: Loblaws, Sobeys, Walmart and more

Loblaws and Sobeys are giving hourly employees a much deserved $2 bonus per hour, as well as a $50 bonus! Walmart is also dishing out $550 million worth of bonuses and looking to hire 150, 000 more temporary staff.

☕Free coffee for long nights: Tim Hortons

Timmies is brewing free coffee for people serving the community, with Tims coffee trucks moving all across Canada. They’ve already made a stop at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto!

🍔 50% off for Front-line workers: Harvey’s and Swiss Chalet

Any Canadian government healthcare workers and first responders can get 50% off anything on the menu.

In addition to all this, there are CEOs cutting down their salary to $10 000 a year, or even $0 to make sure their employees get regular paychecks.

2. Manufacturing Makeovers for COVID-19 First Responders 🍺→ ✋

First responders need more equipment, stat! COVID19 is putting a huge strain on resources, including N95 masks, hand sanitizers and scrubs. These retailers are changing up their usual manufacturing priorities to keep up with demand. Which production transformations have you heard about?

🍺→ ✋Beer to Hand Sanitizers: Labatt Breweries (Canadian beer company)

Labatt Breweries is donating 50, 000 bottles of hand sanitizers to Canadian food banks.

🏑 →😷Hockey Equipment to Masks: Bauer (Canadian hockey manufacturer)

Bauer will make 2000 units daily for doctors, nurses and first responders.

“Protection allows athletes to give everything for their team. Right now, we’re all on the same team” — @BauerHockey tweets

🚗→🧼 Auto parts to Sanitization Device: Magna (Canadian auto parts manufacturer)

Magna is testing their bacteria removal gear to see if they can effectively eliminate the virus in hospitals. Their ozone has been proven to kill off H1N1 Influenza, but further testing is needed.

👕→🚑 Fashion to Scrubs: Canada Goose (Canadian outerwear retailer)

Canada Goose is producing and donating scrubs locally, starting with 10 000 units.

“It’s the Canadian thing to do.” — CEO of Canada Goose

Many apparel companies like Eddie Bauer, Ralph Lauren and Gap are following the lead, making masks and scrubs for medical professionals. We’re sure these are the first of many companies pitching in.

3. Putting Customers First During COVID19 👍

You may have heard Canadian grocery stores have added special hours for seniors to get their shopping done! That’s amazing, but don’t forget about the little things that don’t get publicity. Here are some appreciation posts from customers who had great experiences through the little ways.

🍞Delivering with Care: La Stella Grocery Store

✅ Losing a Sale to Protect Customers: Superstore

👍Good vibes and fast lines: Costco

What have your experiences been like lately? Businesses should be recognized for good work and encouraged to do better. Good or bad, comment below. Or better yet, put your feedback on Luup and get rewards too!

4. Bringing Quarantine Comfort: Free Delivery, Food, and Entertainment! 😋

Okay couch potatoes, this is your time. Quarantine and chill with these perks.

🚚Free Delivery: Starbucks, Chipotle, McDonalds and plenty of other fast food places are delivering on the house. There’s a $0 delivery for local restaurants on Ubereats, and a list of local free delivery on Foodora.

🌯 Houseparty Video Burritos: Chipotle offering free food

To encourage social connection while social distancing, Chipotle is setting burrito lovers up with free food. All you need to do is @Chipotle on your Instagram group chat.

🎨Virtual Creative Exploration: Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) has entire collections of their exhibits online! Here are 12 more virtual tours of museums you can take from home. If you’re tired of Netflix, TIFF and Crave also offer a virtual cinema collection!

The internet is definitely a magical place. But, if you’re anything like the quarantine ‘before and after’ memes, you may be feeling like your body is collecting dust. This next one’s for you!

5. Pumping People Up to Stay Active from Home 💪

We know this is a great time to binge-watch shows and bond with your bed. Take time to rest, but also make time to move! Mental health and physical health go hand in hand, so let’s get active! Here are some activewear businesses offering free resources to get you motivated.

💪Workout Club: Nike’s Training Club app is completely free with +185 workouts to choose from!

😌Breathe in, breathe out: Lululemon is offering yoga and meditation videos so you can get some peace of mind during this crazy time.

💯Measure your Health: Fitbit is offering select Premium features for free; and extended trial of premium to 90 days. Your sleeping patterns, hydration levels, and nutrition can make a difference in how you feel, inside and out!

Which of these initiatives do you appreciate the most? We customers have a voice, and you can make yours heard. Let businesses know what contributions you care about.

We make it easy for you to give feedback on Luup, and earn rewards! So the next time you finish your socially distant grocery shopping — whip out the Luup app, and leave your feedback on your experience. Every time you provide feedback, you earn points that you can redeem for a gift card to your favorite store! How’s that for a win-win?!

If you have a favourite initiative or an encounter you’d like to share, comment below!