From the entire BPE team, we hope that you and your family are staying well.

It’s been a while since we last updated everyone on our situation. Since our last update in March, a lot has changed but a lot has stayed the same. The biggest change is probably that Deschutes County has received approval to enter Phase 1 of reopening. Admittedly it will be nice to take a step back to normalcy. Only time will tell if we can move back to pre-COVID life safely but regardless, it felt like a good time to provide an update on what BPE is doing as we all collectively move forward.

Oregon State Guidance

Along with the Deschutes County approval, the State has issued guidance to all businesses, and some additional guidance for retail stores like ours. We’ve already put internal policies into place that cover all of the Governor’s requirements so this won’t be anything new for us, but I do want to be explicit about it so you know what to expect when you walk through our doors.

Retail stores are required to:

  • Limit the number of customers in the retail store and focus on maintaining at least six (6) feet of distance between people and employees in the store. Store management should determine maximum occupancy to maintain at least six (6) feet of physical distancing, considering areas of the store prone to crowding (like aisles) and limit admittance accordingly.
  • Post clear signs (available at healthoregon.org/coronavirus) listing COVID-19 symptoms, asking employees and customers with symptoms to stay home, and listing who to contact if they need assistance.
  • Use signs to encourage physical distancing.
  • Frequently clean and sanitize work areas, high-traffic areas, and commonly touched surfaces in both customer/public and employee areas of store.
  • Wipe down changing room doorknobs, walls and seating between each customer use.
  • Require all employees to wear cloth, paper or disposable face coverings. Businesses must provide cloth, paper or disposable face coverings for employees.

What is BPE Doing?

Be assured, we are doing our part to provide a low risk environment for our staff and for you. We do have a few changes from the March update to cover:

  • Our stores will now be open to the public from 9am – 5pm, 7 days a week. Despite the email that was sent out earlier today that showed a picture of me holding a M-F sign, we are definitely open 7 days a week. Why aren’t we just opening back up to 9a-6p? The additional time will give our team the opportunity to sanitize the stores and delivery vehicles, restock shelves and rest in preparation for the next day.
  • Contactless shopping is here. We have contactless payment options for you. We don’t require signatures. Order through our website and you can choose curbside pickup.
  • PPE is a requirement for our staff. No, we aren’t wearing N95 masks, but no matter what it’s made of, we have to wear something. We have also installed clear plastic sneeze barriers at each and every register. Gloves are provided but are not required. If a staff member chooses not to wear gloves, they are required to clean their hands after every customer interaction.
  • Previously we limited the number of local deliveries to 20 per day. We have found that we actually aren’t limited by the number of deliveries we can do every day. Our actual limitation is the amount of time that the deliveries take! It takes time to service the 500 square miles that we cover and driving those roads is our limiting factor. While many places are looking at laying off staff or furloughing their teams, we will be bringing on a new delivery driver.Please, continue to use delivery if you can. We don’t have everything on our website that we carry in the stores, but most of it is there. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, use the chat bubble on the site, shoot us an email or give us a call to let us know what you want and we’ll get it taken care of.
  • Frozen raw delivery has been a hit! Sure, we haven’t hit the hot temps of summer yet, but it’s tough to beat the combination of convenient home delivery and the self satisfaction knowing you’re feeding your pet the way nature intended. You need to be home to receive it as it is a perishable good, but if this would help you out, please use the chat bubble on the site, shoot us an email or give us a call.
  • We will be limiting the number of concurrent customers allowed in the stores at any given time. Like I mentioned above, the State requires that we limit the number of customers and employees to maintain 6 feet of distancing at all times. You may be asked to wait for another customer to leave before coming into the stores, but for the most part we are able to maintain this spacing at all times. For couples and families, please only send in one person instead of bringing everyone in.
  • Our dog wash has temporarily stopped allowing all self-service “You-Wash” baths. All “We-Wash” services are still available and can be scheduled on our website. Give us a call when you arrive for your appointment and we will come out to you, pick up your pup and let you know when they are squeaky clean.

We’re Here for You

Despite the crazy change to our lives, so many of you have continued to shop with us through it all. We are deeply grateful to you. From all of us here; thank you. While our goal is not to compete with the big guys like Chewy and Amazon, we have found ourselves fighting against them as people rightfully try their best to stay at home. So please, if you had a good experience with us, tell your friends and family. Share this post. Share our social media. This is the best way to help us right now. We’ve been here since 1993 and we don’t want to go anywhere. We are a small business. We aren’t a national corporation that cares only about the bottom line and treats people as “resources” without names.

We are open. We are staffed. We have all of our regular products in stock. We are here for you and your pets. Thank you for shopping with us and we sincerely appreciate your patience as we all adjust to the daily changes that COVID-19 has brought to our community. Stay safe. Take care. Let us know how we can help.

Warmly,

Ryan, Kim and the entire BPE team

Johannah, Sara, Stephanie, Josh, Stephanie, Jeremiah, Liss, Alexis, Alyssa, Kiyta, Cassandra, Susannah, Michaela, Ariel, Lauren, Isabel and Meekah.