For Ignatius Rodriguez and his staff of more than three dozen at Gene’s Heartland Foods, the past three weeks have been like nothing they have ever experienced.

Business has increased — along with the number of work hours — and conditions change daily, forcing Rodriguez and his crew to find yet another way to serve the store’s customers. Change has become a business constant.

It’s all part of the temporary new normal in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic that has forced many to remain in their homes to keep from spreading the illness.

That has left Gene’s and other grocery stores scrambling to retool the way they do business.

“It’s been busy and chaotic, but we’re hanging in there,” Rodriguez said this past week.

Hardly a day passes, he said, that something doesn’t change. Perhaps the two biggest differences between now and before the pandemic are safety and product delivery in a business that health officials consider essential and continues to open its doors to the public every day.

Gene’s has between 35 and 40 employees. Rodriguez said a few of them are uncomfortable working during the pandemic and that’s fine — they will still have their jobs when the danger passes.

Meanwhile, employees who continue to stock shelves, run the cash registers and perform other duties observing social distancing rules and maintain six feet of separation between themselves and others; carts, freezer door handles and other surfaces are sanitized during the day; and the store now closes an hour earlier than before to give employees time for a final cleaning.

The day of this interview, Rodriguez planned to add another layer of protection — only one person per family in the store at a time to better maintain social distancing.

“We’re constantly evolving the way we’re doing business to keep everyone safe,” he said.

Full trucks from the store’s warehouse in Texas arrive on Tuesdays and Fridays. Rodriguez and other Gene’s employees work after hours to unload the groceries, which sometimes fall short of what Rodriguez orders. In addition to local residents using the store more, Gene’s also is attracting customers from Saline, Barton and Russell counties in search of items they can’t find in their hometown groceries.

As a result, it has been a struggle to maintain supplies of paper products, pasta and dry beans and cleaning items.

“We’re trying to get as much product in here as possible. Anything that isn’t stocked is because I can’t get it,” Rodriguez said.

Perhaps the most popular change with customers has been the store’s new click list service, which allows shoppers to order groceries on their mobile devises. Employees can gather the items for curbside pickup or delivery. More information is available at genesclicklist.com

Rodriguez said the store receives between 50 and 60 orders a day, enough to keep two employees busy. The goal of same day service may at some point turn into next-day-service because of the demand. Call-in orders also are accepted.

Rodriguez credits Stacie Schmidt and Ellsworth County Economic Development for setting up the service. Click list has been so successful, in fact, Rodriguez expects to continue the service in one form or another once the pandemic passes.

The store manager has been impressed by the community’s response. His hope is residents will continue to shop at local businesses, even after the all-clear sounds on the coronavirus pandemic and they are allowed to move around again.

Rodriguez, who has worked at Gene’s for 15 years and in the grocery business as early as high school, said a 90-year-old customer told him during a recent curbside pickup visit that the only time she could compare to now was World War II and, even then, people weren’t told to remain in their homes and not see friends and family.

“I can’t stress enough how great our community has been,” he said.

Rodriguez includes his wife and children in that category. His job has made it “tough on them,” but they are adjusting to his long hours at work and odd sleeping times, he said.

This is a time, he said, when it’s especially important to be safe and respectful of each other.

HOURS OF OPERATION

• During the COVID-19 crisis, operating hours for Gene’s Heartland Foods in Ellsworth are from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week. The store is closing an hour early each day to allow employees more time to clean, sanitize and restock.

• Wilson Foods is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.