Local business finds a niche in helping with Covid-19 concerns

March 31, 2020, 7:50 am
Kara Kinna

The sneeze guards separating customers and staff at the Esterhazy Freshmart grocery store.

A local business—Big Lou’s Glass in Esterhazy—has seen a sudden demand for “sneeze guards” in a number of food service businesses in Esterhazy due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Our guys have been going steady just doing those sneeze guards,” says Big Lou’s owner Lindsay Dlouhy. “Our local stores have been very appreciative. Their staff weren’t feeling comfortable with the situation and said ‘we’ve got no protection whatsoever, can you do something?’ So we jumped on board and did what we did.”

The sneeze guards have been put up at the till areas of both grocery stores in Esterhazy—Esterhazy Freshmart and Esterhazy Family Foods—as well as at Tristar Husky and Subway. Dlouhy says each space is measured up for a custom install and they have been able to have the guards up within a couple of days. Guards have also been put up inside of Big Lou’s as well.

An employee behind a glass guard at the till at Esterhazy Family Foods.

The sneeze guard at Tristar Subway giving extra eight to the glass barrier that was already there. A guard has been installed at the Tristar Husky till area as well.

While custom polycarbonate work is not new to Big Lou’s, Dlouhy says sneeze guards are not a normal part of their work.

“We have done something like this in the past—not sneeze guards, but custom bending of polycarbonate, windshields, motorcycles, windshields on side-by-sides, and things like that. But this has been pretty much cleaned us out of acrylic in the last few days because it is such big pieces.

“I did ours (at Big Lou’s) last Sunday (March 22) and put it up on morning Monday and I posted it online that we are set and ready to go for people to come to our lumber yard and feel safe, and from there people saw it. Then Jerome from Tristar Subway called me and said they need theirs done, so we went and did his right away. Then the next morning Mark from Freshmart was there and then Keith from Family Foods called and said he needed something done as well.”

While business has been slow for a lot of retailers due to the Covid-19 situation, Dlouhy says the lumber yard has also been busy for Big Lou’s.

“We’ve been busier in the last four days than we have in the last three months,” he says. “People are thinking we better jump on this because they might close their doors and then we can’t get product because we don’t want to leave our community. In the event it comes to that, they want to be prepared to have something to do. A lot of people are doing crafts with their kids. We had people come in to buy paint for their kids’ bedroom and the kids were with them so they were excited they were going to get to paint their bedroom and finally get to do those kinds of things. It is kind of interesting how all this bad news can turn into a little bit of good news.

“I would rather have work in better circumstances, but it has definitely has improved our sales in the last few days.”

Dlouhy says he feels there will be a demand for sneeze guards for some time.

“I’ve got a feeling it might end up being something that we’re going to see a lot more of a demand for in times to come. I don’t think this is going to go away any time soon. I’ve got a feeling that people are going to be wanting a real tempered glass shield between them and their customers. Once they get used to this why would they take it away?”