Grocery Stores, Amazon Hiring

While a substantial number of employers have been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic, a number of other businesses are struggling to keep up with the demand.

Grocery stores are at the top of the list. Their shelves have been picked bare and the customer volume is high. In many cases, stores have begun reducing their hours to allow employees more time to restock and clean. Select stores have also implemented special, early morning hours where they’re only open for individuals in high-risk populations, including those ages 60+ and with compromised immune systems.

Kroger, which operates the Metro Market and Pick ‘n Save stores locally, is the largest grocer in the United States and is seeking to add over 10,000 employees to respond to demand. All of its Milwaukee area stores are open only to individuals in high-risk populations from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m., seven days a week. Hiring information is available at jobs.kroger.com.

Local grocer Sendik’s Food Markets, which operates 17 locations in the Milwaukee area, has reserved hours from 7:00 a.m. to 8 a.m. for high-risk populations. The company has 113 job openings at the time of publication.

Outpost Natural Foods’ new reduced hours are 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. at all stores. The community-owned group operates four stores in the Milwaukee area. Hiring information is available on the Outpost website.

Employee-owned Woodman’s Food Markets has large-format stores in a number of Milwaukee suburbs. The Janesville-based company is hiring. All of its stores are now closed from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. daily to allow restocking and cleaning.

Festival Foods and Meijer are also hiring.

Amazon, which operates a 1.5 million square foot warehouse in Kenosha, is also seeking to grow its workforce. Nationwide, the company is looking for approximately 100,000 employees, including delivery personnel, to deal with increased demand. In Kenosha it’s looking to add 700 employees. It is boosting pay by $2 an hour to $17 an hour as a result. To apply, go to amazon.com/jobs.