Pemberton Farms?

[elusiveat]

Has anyone been to Pemberton Farms lately?

Anything to report on what it tends to be like there?

I made a special order and need to pick it up, and would like to know whether I should expect to wait in line to get in and whether things are set up for appropriate social distancing.

Comments

[elusiveat]

Ok, I'll answer this myself.

I called in advance to get some ideas of what to expect, and then headed over there at 9:30am.

6am-7am is reserved for seniors
7am-12pm you can just walk in
12pm-7pm there is a line to get in; this is evidently the only time that they keep track of how many people are in the store, so if your goal is to avoid being in the store with too many other people, this is the time to go (conversely, if your primary concern is to get in and out quickly, this is the wrong time to go)
7pm-9pm you can just walk in + it's supposed to be particularly busy

The person I spoke to said that 7am-9am tends to be very busy and 7pm-9pm is even busier.

You are supposed to enter through the front (Mass Ave side) and depart through the side (parking lot) door. There is someone standing at the front door to open doors for you, but today this person stood against the door holding the door open with their back such that you had to pass within 1 foot of them to enter. This could be greatly improved if the doorperson instead held the door from the outside. I will probably be sending Pemberton Farms a note about this.

Employees wore masks but didn't seem particularly attentive to staying 6 feet away from customers or from each other. I acknowledge that this stuff is hard.

There were markings in the register line area reminding people to stay 6 feet apart, but traffic was low when I went so there were never more than 2 people in line and it wasn't too much of an issue.

It's a small store, so negotiating the space can be a little challenging.

Thank you for the update.

[kathmandu]

I'd been wondering myself about going. It's good to have current info.

[okrablossom]

Thank you for letting us know.

[lillibet]

I was there on Thursday around 11am and stood in line behind one person to get in. I have seen longer lines at other times.

They are making an effort toward social distancing. There are shields in front of the cashiers and marks on the floor to help people in line stay an appropriate distance apart. But their aisles are simply too narrow and irregularly placed to permit six feet between shoppers and staff restocking the shelves :(