Update: March 31, 2020
In an effort to assist our customers in the Pharmacy, C-Store, Grocery, and other Essential Business categories during this time of crisis, Midwest Retail Services is rounding up unique fixtures and merchandise accessories to help your stores flatten the curve in reducing the transmission of the COVID-19 / Coronavirus.
We’ve created a special section on our website to feature these Coronavirus / COVID-19 prevention and protection products, and hope you will find them useful in keeping your team members and customers safe and healthy by minimizing the risk of infection.
Update: March 23, 2020
Over the weekend Ohio was placed under a “Stay At Home” order by the governor. Our company expected this to happened and per our original post (below) we took action to have our team working remotely to continue processing your order over the phone, via email, and through our website at www.midwestretailservices.com. We have been in contact with all of our major manufacturers and suppliers to stay up to date on their shipments and delivery schedules. They are working with us to help delay or suspend shipments for customers who have temporarily shutdown during the travel and work restrictions. Our own warehouse and shipping department have been scheduled in small teams in an effort to stay in alignment with social distancing and minimizing group gatherings while still fulfilling orders for clients, with a priority on essential businesses as defined by government agencies.
Midwest Retail Services stocks many of the popular shelving brands and fixtures in our own warehouse, so we remain well-positioned to safely and responsibly help our customers stay up and running during our nation’s effort to help flatten the spread of the Coronavirus.
— original post from March 17, 2020 —
To our friends, customers, and team members from Midwest Retail Services president, Matt Ray…
We are currently experiencing a unique challenge as individuals, as businesses, and as a nation. Though it may be tough right now, this is something we will get through.
I feel personally fortunate to have a company of great people who care about one another and are able to band together to handle adversity. While none of us know what the coming weeks will bring, we have proactively taken the following steps to help mitigate our risks while continuing to work together and serve our retail customers who have been hit hardest by these circumstances.
All deliveries and order fulfillment are expected to continue as normal
Our customer service team plans to confirm delivery dates with some pending retail locations to ensure they are staffed and open to accept delivery of their fixtures and accessories. If you have placed an order with us, but are instituting a change in store hours or temporary personnel reduction, reach out to us at 800-576-7577 and we will work with you to reschedule the delivery of your order.
Our warehouse remains open
The Midwest Retail Services warehouse remains open for receiving shipments from manufacturers, as well as for processing and distributing customer orders until otherwise posted.
In-person meetings and appointments
Any in-person meetings and/or activities with customers and vendors will be postponed or rescheduled via phone or other online meeting tools.
Our customer service and sales teams
Midwest Retail Services has salespeople working in multiple states who are already accustomed to working remotely. We also utilize remote desktop technology for employees of our office headquartered near Columbus, Ohio, allowing that team to work from home if the situation requires.
Any team members who aren’t feeling well have been encouraged to stay home. If they believe they may have been at risk for exposure they’ve been encouraged to follow the self-quarantine protocols posted on the official Centers for Disease Control website.
Although our warehouse team cannot do their job remotely, our facilities are closed to the general public (mitigating potential exposure) and our team can continue working unless they are feeling unwell or believe they’ve been exposed to the virus and need to self-quarantine. We will manage the situation as we move forward.
Customers can continue placing orders for most standard fixtures and merchandise accessories via our website at www.MidwestRetailServices.com. We also offer remote customer service assistance via online chat during normal business hours.
Further updates
Please refer to this page for future updates as they develop. If orders are impacted by shipping carriers or manufacturers and suppliers, we will do our best to keep customers up to date as early as possible. Feel free to reach out to us with any specific questions via email at info@mw-rs.com.
We thank you for your business and support
Please know that as always, we are here to help and support our customers’ businesses as well.
Stay informed
We encourage the use of reputable sources for information about COVID-19 and the Coronavirus, the official CDC website:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
In Ohio the governor has established a website devoted to Corona outbreak updates and information:
https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/covid-19/home
If you get diagnosed with Coronavirus
Stay home, quarantine yourself, and follow the guidelines provided by the CDC:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/steps-when-sick.html
