VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — It’s getting harder to find fresh meat, produce and even cleaning supplies at grocery stores during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mike Standing who owns Chix on the Beach, The Shack and Waterman’s Surfside Grille started a temporary grocery store at the Shack to help people looking for the essentials for their homes. The food comes from either from a local fisherman or from Performance Food Group, a food distributor.
“We have 300 people ready to work and we will do anything we can to make it happen,” Standing said.
The market has fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, beer and wine as well as fresh seafood from local commercial fishermen. Fishermen are also suffering during this time as more businesses shutter their doors.
“Commercial fishermen - when the restaurants are closed - it all but wipes them out," Standing said. "So we contacted them and we guaranteed a certain price and they went out and got fish and they just brought in a load for us.”
Customers said they are loving the setup and believe the prices compare to an average grocery store.
“The fish is fresh, right off the slab. I got fresh tuna. They said right off the boat,” customer James Cippa. “I’ve been looking for two weeks just got these few things and you can’t find it nowhere. I’ve outsourced it and can’t find it.”
Standing said the plan is to keep the store open from every day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. If you don’t want to go inside, you can order at TheShackVB.com and an employee will deliver your groceries to your car!
“We are just going along and the more it builds up, the more people we can bring back to work,” Standing explained.