The Coronavirus has hit most if not all businesses across the globe. From layoffs to pay cuts, the stories have been ruthless and sadly, relatable for a lot of people. The story of CBD Store and Organics is not any different. It has been a rollercoaster for us to first shut our doors with the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. Lucky for us, we have a loyal customer base that was willing to shop off of our website in a tough time like this.
With 4-day workweeks, limited capacity, and efficient services like curbside delivery, we took our chances and reopened our doors nearly three months later in June 2020. At every step of the way, CBD Store and Organics ensured being extremely cautious about maintaining safety standards and protecting the well-being of staff members and customers. We have now moved our operations to 6-day workweeks to serve our customers better and try to make up for all our lost sales.
During this tumultuous time, the information about applying for financial aid came through like a ray of hope. However, when we applied for Payroll Protection, we were denied any help by the SBA because their policies do not allow CBD stores to be qualified for this aid. While we were still recovering from this information, we were told that upon hearing about this loan, our bank wanted to shut down our account as they do not provide services to CBD serving companies.
A few good wishes came in handy as the bank decided to keep our accounts open, helping us stay afloat for a while. However, this is nowhere close to complete recovery and we still require immense support from our customers to boost our sales. We have been pushed to cutting our employees hours from full-time to part-time to curb costs leading to uncertain futures of both, our workforce and our brand - a situation we have been trying to avoid for a long time.
This is an extremely difficult time for small businesses as the road ahead seems unclear and not all of us have the resources to pull through uncertain times. That said, our aim still remains to provide you with the best quality and safety tested CBD products that can boost your health and well-being, especially during an anxious period of time like this year. We want to continue our mission of helping people in achieving their ideal lifestyles. CBD Store and Organics can contribute by continually offering certified products that contain advanced formulations. As a team, we want to constantly evolve and make use of CBD’s versatile nature to serve our customers better. But for us to meet those standards and overcome these challenges, we will require time and consistent business activities.
With COVID still being very much out there, CBD Store and Organics will try its best to push ahead with positivity, and while there is no certainty of how our business will move forward, we hope there will be an uplifting change soon.