GREATER SPRINGFIELD – Grocery stores and pharmacies aren’t the only essential businesses seeing a high demand from customers during the COVID-19 crisis. Alternative medicine and grocery providers such as the Herbarium in Chicopee, Better Life Whole Foods in Springfield and Choice Health in Westfield are also doing a brisk business.

Jonathan Evans, owner and business information specialist for The Herbarium told Reminder Publishing that though the Herbarium has not received official essential status from Gov. Charlie Baker, it has received clearance to remain open in a limited capacity, from the City of Chicopee.

“We seem to fit in a quasi pharmacy/food category,” Evans said. “Because we provide supplements to many in the at-risk category who cannot use prescription products or need the herbal supplements as adjunct therapies, we have continued to remain open. We have limited access to the store proper, but continue to fill orders online, by phone and through the door if people know what they need.”

He said there’s been an uptick in both mail and phone orders – “the phone does not stop ringing,” Evans said, with customers looking for immune-boosting preparations like elderberry based products and the antiviral sprays his wife, Kathleen Duffy, a clinical aromatherapist and instructor, has been formulating for the past 20 years, as well as “regular items such as vitamins, help for their blood pressure, arthritis, pain management, allergies and everything else.” One of the store’s biggest problems, he noted, is maintaining reliable supplies of much-requested items. “We have been able to secure small amounts of some of the ‘hot’ items and are rationing them out to the largest number of people, avoiding the hoarding mentality that we are seeing all around,” Evans said.

In-person pickup of orders at the store are being conducted in a very controlled manner. “We have restricted entry into the store,” Evans explained. “Any transactions are done at the door, pickups in the foyer [or] curbside [for] phone and email [orders]. We wipe down all doors, handles, throughout the building, and if someone comes to the door, we sanitize their credit cards. We have essential oils diffused in the foyer and our shop. Going by the chemistry of the oils, many exhibit anti-bacterial, antiviral and antimicrobial actions.”

At press time, hours at the Herbarium were Monday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

At Better Life Whole Foods, located at 1500 Allen St. in Springfield, owner Kathleen [Kathy] Sabella, who with her daughter, Lindsey Christensen, took over the business from former owner Joe Bonavita on Jan. 2. Sabella said the store is busy every day. Better Life, which has been a fixture in the 16 Acres area of Springfield since 1984, is considered an essential business because it carries “groceries [and] we have a lot of gluten-free, we carry fresh produce and the majority is supplements and vitamins,” Sabella said. Customers have included the store’s regulars and many “first-time people coming in, because people are coming looking for supplements to boost their immune system,” she said. Among the popular purchases are products containing zinc, vitamin C and elderberry, as well as naturally based allergy-fighting preparations. “Everybody is trying to do what they can to keep their families healthy,” she noted.

Another big seller at Better Life are their fresh herbs. “People are buying their own herbs and making their own teas,” Sabella shared. “People are doing their homework – [they] come in and think they aren’t going to find [what they want] and we do carry all these hard-to-find herbs.”

The store is also stocking a locally-made hand sanitizer and elderberry syrup as supplies are available, but Sabella noted that this supplier – like everyone else – is dealing with raw materials interruptions. As far as stocking her shelves with vitamins and other products, Sabella said she currently has “40 vendors that we work with” and maintaining inventories has been fairly good.

At press time, the hours at Better Life Whole Foods were Monday through Friday,  9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, 12 to 5 p.m., though Sabella said these were “subject to change.”

Choice Health, located at 307 E. Main St. in Westfield, is another longtime resource for people looking for naturally based supplements and select specialty grocery items. Owner Suellen Duga said the family-owned store, which started out with a small location in Agawam in 1988, can remain open because its business model falls under the health and wellness provision, as do drug stores like CVS.

“We have some grocery and pet food items, we have supplements [and] we have cold and flu items like the drugstore,” Duga explained. “If you shut down CVS and just kept the pharmacy open, we wouldn’t be able to operate but because their entire store is open, we are under the same category and umbrella.”

Duga shared that Choice Health has experienced a steady stream of people calling to ask if their shop is open and what their current hours are. The store has also seen an increase in in-person shoppers as well, with customers looking for “the top five – elderberry, vitamin C, oregano, olive leaf extract and colloidal silver,” she said. “We’re getting some calls for echinacea, and people are also looking for zinc, that’s number seven or eight of the top 10” items requested. She also has a supply of germ fighting sprays and hand sanitizers manufactured locally in Westfield by a company called Relax, Rinse, Repeat that she said, “hospital people are buying.” Choice Health is offering curbside pickup for customers who call in an order with a charge card. “Everyone is welcome to call or email or any way they want to connect with us,” Duga added.

In the store, she said staff is following strict procedures to ensure their own – and their customer’s – safety. “Anybody that is on the floor is wearing gloves and a mask,” Duga said. “We wipe down everything every 15 minutes. We wipe down the door handles, keypads and counter, we are wiping down computers and keyboards every 15 minutes, and we wash our hands.”

Though there have been some slowdowns in the delivery of high-demand products, Duga said her long history in the business and relationships with suppliers has helped her store to be able to service her customers as efficiently as possible. She said she and her staff are also working to keep customers updated on the latest information about products and staying healthy on the store’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/choicehealth.healthfoodstore, and the store’s blog.

At press time, the hours for Choice Health were 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Saturday. The store is closed on Sunday.

Bumpy’s Natural and Organic Foods, 908 Allen Street, Springfield, has also seen an increase in business, according to Katherine Fox of the store.

She said, “Yes, we have seen an increase in business although we have reduced our operational hours by seven hours from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Reducing our hours has been incremental and imperative to protecting our employees and our loyal customers to any risk or exposure to Covid-19. Customers love the minimal occupancy and feel safe and comfortable shopping with us.”

She added that many people have come to the store looking for toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning products, hand sanitizers,  as well as staple items like produce, bread, milk, eggs and Vitamin C, elderberry syrup and zinc, which she noted builds the immune system.

To keep both staff and ctustomers as safe as possible, Fox added, “Our measures coincide/comply with the CDC and state requirements of not more than 10 people in the store at one time. We lock the door when we are at capacity; cleaning every hour as required – we actually clean after every customer –  by disinfecting the doors, handles, carts, baskets, countertops. Customers are offered sanitizer upon walking into the store and upon leaving. All employees are wearing gloves and masks at all times.”

Fox noted, “We also offer no- contact free delivery to your front door with your order of $50 or more and we also are giving free sanitizer.”

To learn more, go to https://bumpysbargains.com.

G. Michael Dobbs contributed to this story.