SUSAN JOY MCKINNEY/OUR COMMUNITY
Tom Hast, the manager and store director of the Danville County Market at the Village Mall, poses for a photo by a sign reminding
customers to stay safe while shopping in the store.
Tom Hast
Grocers face new challenges in pandemic
36 BY CAROL ROEHM
[email protected]
With four decades of experience
in the grocery store industry, Danville
County Market Store Director
Tom Hast knows what it takes to keep
shelves stocked and customers happy.
Hast said he started his career in
the grocery business 43 years ago as a
bagger for the Ayr-Way IGA in Champaign,
but now has spent more than 30
years in Danville.
“I worked in the Towne Centre
location for 10 years and moved to the
Village Mall store when we opened it
in October 1999,” he said.
As the store director of the Village
Mall location, Hast said, “Basically, I
OUR ILLIANA COMMUNITY LIFESTYLES 2020 — SUMMER 2016
work with my team to have our store
ready for our customers each day.
“I work with all of the departments
with scheduling, stock levels, merchandising,
cleaning/maintenance,
safety and security,” he said. “I’m really
fortunate to have a great team to
work with.”
The COVID-19 pandemic, however,
has presented new challenges for the
grocery business that have never been
encountered before as grocers try to
juggle supply and demand and, most
important, keep shelves stocked for
the customers.
.“I have never seen anything like
this,” Hast said. “We started with the
panic buying of milk, eggs, bread,
toilet paper, sanitizer and sanitizing
wipes.”
At the local County Markets, the
stores followed an “all hands on deck”
attitude.
“Everyone was exhausted trying
to keep the shelves stocked and the
store clean,” Hast said. “We hired temp
workers, and many of our associates
worked overtime and postponed
vacations to help take care of the extra
business.”
Even with all the employees and
extra help putting in long hours,
shortages of some goods still occurred
— and are still occurring — because
of the grocery business’ reliance on its
suppliers whose resources have been
stretched thin.
“Most of our suppliers could not