The free market is all about addressing needs of people and when a global pandemic strikes, those needs can change drastically. Like so many other businesses, United By Blue was shut down by the COVID-19 lockdowns for months. The Philadelphia-based apparel store is marked by its organic, eco-friendly clothes, but due to the lockdowns they were unable to do business as usual. That’s when they brainstormed a way to help out the needs of their community around them and keep their lights on. As written in Forbes:
In mid-March when all the shops were shut, [Mark Cangi, co-founder] says, “We took a couple weeks to pause and reflect. But then we pivoted, and we pivoted in a way that still let us be a company that’s centered around sustainability and equity.”
Instead of ordering eggs and bacon for sandwiches in their cafe, UBB reorganized one of their stores to provide the same ingredients — such as vegetables, egg, meat, milk from Northeast farms, but as groceries.
While grocery stores were reckoning with shortages, UBB was using the same supply chains they’d relied on for their cafe business to get locals what they needed. And then they took it one step further, partnering with Independence Blue Cross (IBX), a local insurance provider, to serve at-risk communities with the essentials.
IBX and UBB launched a new program in spring 2020 that offered four weekly grocery deliveries at no cost to Independence Medicare Advantage members. Each delivery had fresh, local, and organic groceries, homemade soups, and household supplies.
The initial program, which was designed to only go for a month, is now six months. It targets 7,700 Medicare Advantage members who are enrolled in Independence’s Keystone 65 HMO plans and have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and at least one of the following diagnosis: hemoglobin A1c level greater than 9, asthma, hypertension, congestive heart failure, end-stage renal disease, or ischemic heart disease.
So far UBB has served 2,972 members and made over 13,000 deliveries, says Maria McDonald who manages the grocery program for UBB. This new addition to their business model has allowed UBB for one of their two retail stores to be transformed into a fully operating local grocery fulfillment center.
