A plethora of cars convened in the Columbiana Sparkle Market parking lot as residents grocery shop during the COVID-coronavirus pandemic. (Salem News photo by Scott Lendak)

As the mandates from Gov. Mike DeWine have increased, county residents have been preparing for the worst in light of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. So while all bars and restaurants in Ohio were ordered to close on Sunday night, many East Palestine and Columbiana residents have decided to visit Sparkle Market to stock up on groceries.

East Palestine owner Gordon Todd said that while things have been hectic around the store, he gives a lot of the credit to the workers.

“If I didn’t have the quality of people here, we would be in a lot more trouble than we are,” Todd said.

Although Todd said everything is flying off the shelves more than normal, there are certain items that were scarce on the shelf, including paper products and meats. In fact, there is currently a limit of two paper products per customer. Todd said that restocking has been normal, but suppliers have set limits on products, and the time they receive shipments varies.

“No one expected anything like this, and it’s nothing we’ve seen before,” Todd said. “Right now we can just offer what we receive from our suppliers. We are getting different products every day. It’s just running business differently.”

With East Palestine being a smaller store, the products they received have filled the store sufficiently enough. In Columbiana, Sparkle is a much bigger store that faces a lot of cleaned out shelf space. Although bread was fully stocked, produce was at a minimum as well as paper products. However, the products fluctuate throughout the week depending on what they receive from each shipment.

Currently, there is no plan to enter into a full quarantine, but in a seemingly ever-changing situation, some residents continue to take precautionary measures.