Oregon Republican Reporter / oglecountynews.com • Friday, March 27, 2020
| OREGON BEAT
2 OREGON Republican Reporter oglecountynews.com OFFICE 113-115 Peoria Ave. Dixon, IL 61021 (815) 732-6166 ext. 2592 Fax: (815) 284-2078 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday customerservice@bcrnews.com SUBSCRIPTIONS $39 in Ogle County, and $52 outside Ogle County. Single-copy price is $1 To subscribe, make a payment or discuss your delivery, call 815-732-6166, ext. 2518 from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday-Friday or send an e-mail to subscriptions@ oglecountynews.com. You also can subscribe online by going to oglecountynews.com and clicking on Subscribe. CLASSIFIED SALES 815-284-2222 OBITUARIES 815-732-6166, ext. 2591 ehinton@oglecountynews.com Deadline for obituaries is 2 p.m. Tuesday for Friday’s edition SEND NEWS news@oglecountynews.com General Manager Earleen Hinton 815-732-6166, ext. 2591 ehinton@oglecountynews.com
BUSINESS & COVID-19
Owner, employees step up to serve BY EARLEEN HINTON ehinton@oglecountynews.com Keeping Oregon’s only grocery store stocked and ready for customers during the COVID-19 pandemic has been paramount for Supervalu owner Jim Kaufman and his employees. Kaufman, an Oregon native and resident, and his loyal staff have been making sure food items get out on shelves as soon as they are received especially following Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s March 20 “stay-at-home” restrictions which started on March 21. “We’re almost back to normal,” said a weary Kaufman on Tuesday morning as he supervised stockers. “We are fully-stocked now.” Like everyone else in the world, Kaufman and his 50 workers saw their lives change as fear of the pandemic spread across Illinois and the nation, causing some to flood grocery stores in search of staples like eggs, milk, disinfectant wipes, and toilet paper. On Tuesday, Kaufman said deliveries of eggs, bread and cleaning supplies were still limited. “We’re not getting a lot of those items, but we are getting some,” he said. Kaufman’s wife, Kim, kept customers apprised of deliveries last week via the store’s Facebook page. Jim said his staff had unlimited overtime to keep the 27,500 square-foot store’s
Earleen Hinton/Shaw Media
Oregon Supervalu owner Jim Kaufman smiles as he is surprised by the photographer on Tuesday morning while supervising the restocking of the store’s shelves. Kaufman and his staff have been working long hours making sure the 27,500 square-foot store is stocked with grocery items for area residents. running at is regular hours last week. Special hours were announced over the weekend including hours for senior and high-risk customers. Changes to store hours will be posted on Facebook. “We hired eight more people last week
and we’ve been cross-training everyone,” he said. And is he concerned about getting the coronavirus? “It crosses my mind, but I don’t worry about it. If do, I do,” he said.
Editor Jeff Helfrich 815-732-6166, ext. 2590 jhelfrich@oglecountynews.com Advertising Sales Lori Walker 815-625-3600, Ext. 2555 lwalker@oglecountynews.com Oregon Republican Reporter, Ogle County News and oglecountynews.com are a division of Shaw Media. Ogle County Newspapers also prints the Mt. Morris Times, Forreston Journal, and Polo’s Tri-County Press. The OREGON REPUBLICAN REPORTER (USPS No. 411-420) is published weekly by B.F. Shaw Printing Co., Shaw Media. Periodical postage paid at Oregon, Illinois, 61061. POSTMASTER Send address changes to OGLE REPUBLICAN REPORTER, P.O. Box 8, Oregon, IL 61061. Phone 815-732-6166, ext. 5306. All rights reserved. Copyright 2020
Earleen Hinton/Shaw Media
Marshall Unzicker, of Mt. Morris, who is a manager at Oregon Supervalu, was busy stocking shelves on Tuesday morning. Unzicker is one of several employees who along with store owner, Jim Kaufman, have worked tirelessly to keep as the store’s shelves stocked during the COVID-19 pandemic.