Chemainus 49th Parallel Grocery employees are taking a break on Easter Sunday.
The store is normally open Easter Sunday and closes early, said 49th Parallel president Peter Richmond, but this year it’s staying shut. It’s been a hectic time for workers to keep pace during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The simple fact of the matter we’re running on shorter staff and we need to take a day off,” added Richmond. “We’re running on about 70 per cent of our staff.”
The closure also applies to 49th Parallel stores in Ladysmith, Cedar and Duncan.
Regular hours will otherwise continue, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day.
The hours cited in an advertisement in the Courier Thursday of 10 a.m.-3 p.m. five days a week from Wednesday to Sunday apply to the garden shop in Ladysmith that opened Wednesday, separate from regular store hours at that location and had nothing to do with the Chemainus store.