Our Readiness for COVID-19
Update: 2/28/22
Effective today, February 28, 2022, the State of Illinois removed its indoor mask mandate. Accordingly, Chalet no longer requires our customers, staff members, vendors and any other partners to wear a face covering in our facilities and on our customers' properties. This update is effective for everyone, regardless of vaccination status.
While face coverings will not be required, they remain recommended for individuals that are at higher risk for severe illness and for situations where social distancing is not possible. Of course, anyone is welcome to continue to wear a face covering, even though they are not required to do so.
We thank you for your patience, support and taking part in making Chalet a safe place to shop over the past two years. Please feel free to contact us with any questions.
Update 8/23/21
Effective today, Monday, August 23, 2021, in accordance with The Cook County Department of Public Health’s latest order issued on Friday, August 20, 2021, all individuals – our customers and staff members - regardless of vaccination status, are required to wear a mask indoors. The County order requires that all people 2+ who can medically tolerate a mask to wear one in public places including retail establishments. The requirements do not include our outdoor area in our store in Wilmette. However, all individuals in our outdoor spaces are encouraged to wear a face covering, especially when social distancing is not possible.
Under our overarching “Safety is Our Service” guideline throughout the pandemic, we have put the health and safety of our guests and team members first. We want to thank our customers for taking part in making Chalet a safe place to shop. We will continue to monitor the recommendations of the CDC, and state and local government and keep our community updated on our company’s safety guidelines and requirements.
We are pleased to announce that effective today, Friday, June 11, 2021, in accordance with the latest “Restore Illinois” Phase 5 update, customers and staff who are fully-vaccinated are no longer required to wear a face mask at our retail store. This same protocol applies to our fully-vaccinated landscape team members at our customers’ property.
This past year has been an unpredictable journey, and despite the many bumps in the road along the way, the outpouring of support and understanding from our customers has been the unwavering anchor for each of us at Chalet. We are honored to be part of this special community and to be a destination for a nature-filled escape, or simply a happy place during the challenging time.
We look forward to seeing your smile at Chalet.
Update 5/19/21
The health and safety of our guests and team members have been Chalet’s top priority throughout the pandemic. We have closely and consistently followed the recommendations of the CDC, and state and local government. Given the CDC’s updated guidance issued on May 13, 2021, Chalet will no longer require fully vaccinated guests to wear face coverings in our stores. However, we respectfully request that all guests continue to do so. Out of respect for all our guests, Chalet staff will continue to wear masks, and we will remain diligent with our other safety measures such as enhanced cleaning and social distancing.
Thank you for your trust in us to provide you with a safe shopping experience.
Update 11/18/20
On November 17, 2020, Governor Pritzker announced the implementation of Tier 3 Resurgence Mitigations, effective Friday, November 20, 2020. Below summarizes the specific actions that Chalet has implemented with the goal of keeping Chalet a safe place to shop in our community.
Outdoor Shopping Area
This year, we have expanded our outdoor shopping area bigger than ever, so that you can remain outside and shop everything you need for holiday décor including Christmas trees, lights, ornaments, and more without having to going inside the store.
Inside the store
We are committed to following the State guideline of not exceeding 25% capacity inside our store. As such, we’ve set a limit to 75 customers at a time. We’ve invested in an electronic software to monitor customer traffic accurately throughout the day, this capacity is based on the guidelines from the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) and is significantly lower than 25% of the store’s capacity. We also manually monitor the sales floor for social distancing to address times when we are under capacity but experiencing higher traffic in specific areas of the store. Lastly, to improve circulation and customer flow throughout the store, we established one-way entrances and exits on our busier shopping days.
Personal Shopping Appointments
If you’d like assistance while shopping, you can now make a 15-minute appointments with our product experts. They can help make your shopping experience as efficient and speedy as possible. You can also interact with our team in–person at our store, over the phone, or via facetime/zoom.
Shop Online
You can shop Chalet from the comfort of your home 24/7. Shop at www.shopchalet.com and select either curbside pickup or delivery services. Our online store is bigger than ever this year, allowing you to shop a variety of our store offerings online.
We are closely monitoring updates from the Government offices and modifying our protocol accordingly.
We thank every loyal Chalet customers for being part of creating a safe shopping environment for both you and our staff members.
To our Loyal Chalet Customers
Our Store is re-opening on May 1, 2020
Last week the Governor’s office deemed garden centers and nurseries as essential. We are pleased to announce that we will be re-opening our store starting tomorrow, Friday, May 1. We are ready to welcome you with fresh and lush plants in beautiful colors and textures, thanks to a small group of our staff members who have shown their dedication and passion to get the store ready.
Safety is Our Service
There is nothing more important than the health and safety of our customers and staff. We continuously follow the most current guidelines issued by the CDC and State officials, and have implemented the following parameters to ensure that we provide a safe shopping environment:
Store Hours: Monday-Saturday 9 am – 6pm | Sunday 10 am-5pm. We respectfully request that you reserve the first hour for those over 60 years old or those with underlying medical conditions.
Where to Enter: Please enter through the gate to the Outdoor Plants area. We are restricting access to allow for one way in, and one way out.
Face Coverings: In accordance with the State of Illinois and Wilmette mandate, we require that all guests wear a face mask in order to enter. Our staff is also required to wear a face mask at all times.
Limited Admission: While our outdoor shopping areas typically provide ample space for good social distancing, we may need limit admission from time to time and will be monitoring the capacity closely. For the inside area of the Garden Shop, we are limiting access to 50 customers at a time.
Shop Apart. Grow Together.
Self-Service Shopping: Due to Social Distancing guidelines, we are opening the store for self-service shopping only. While we sincerely regret that we are unable to offer you assistance in person, our expertise is only one call away; if you have questions or require additional services such as planting or design, please call us at 847-256-0561, or contact us online at www.ShopChalet.com.
Social Distancing: We ask that you adhere to the 6-foot CDC distancing guidelines with everyone you encounter throughout the shopping area and checkout.
Extra sanitation measures: We have dedicated team members to increase sanitation measures including disinfecting shopping carts and frequently touched surfaces.
Checkout: We have installed glass barriers at each checkout station in order to protect both our customers and team members. Furthermore, we’ve placed distancing markers on the ground to maintain proper distance from other customers.
Payment Method: At this time, we are only accepting credit/debit cards and Apple Pay. No cash or checks will be accepted at this time.
No Returns: We are suspending our current return policy. All sales are final unless there is a problem with the quality of your purchase.
No-Contact and Self-Loading: We will not be providing loading services for the products that fit in your shopping cart. We will provide No-Contact loading for bulky items such as mulches, soils or furniture. We ask that you remain seated in your vehicle with your mask in place while our staff loads items in your car.
Not Feeling Well?: In accordance with CDC guidelines, we are asking staff members who are not feeling well to stay home. We respectfully request that our guests observe this recommendation as well.
We re-opened our online store catering to Mother's Day gift shopping exclusively from our Mother's Day collection. Unfortunately, we are temporarily not accepting any other online, email or phone orders for outdoor plants or other items at this time.
We have been inundated with orders and inquiries and simply cannot keep up with our limited staff right now. We are working diligently and hope to resume our full online store as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience with us as we try to get our feet back under us. If you have any questions about products or gardening questions, please fill in this form, and one of our team members will get back to you.
We are touched by the outpouring of support during this difficult time. The challenges this spring with the pandemic and stay-at-home orders will be long lasting for us. The last 6 weeks have been challenging to say the least. We have been modifying our operational processes – sometimes daily - trying to adapt to this “new normal”. If your experiences fall short of what you have come to expect from Chalet, we sincerely apologize. Now more than ever, we are committed to being your one-stop destination for bringing joy into your home and lives, in a whole new way. Thank you in advance for being part of making Chalet a safe place to shop.
We are writing this letter to provide you with an update on the status of our Landscape Services under the recent “Stay at Home” Executive Order by Gov. Pritzker.
On March 23, 2020, the Governor’s Office and the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Activity verified that Landscape Services are considered essential. As part of this determination, they released a document that reads:
Outdoor landscape projects generally will provide for good social distancing that poses little risk of transmission, but it still is important to ensure the ability to wash or sanitize hands and take other precautions.
As such, we are resuming our landscape operations and will begin our regularly scheduled spring cleanup services beginning next week. If you have any questions or would like to speak with us before we perform any services at your home, please contact us at 847-688-0561.
We are committed to the safety of our staff and customers, and to ensure that we are complying with all recommendations for best practices, the following actions have been implemented:
We have increased both the frequency and the degree of our facility cleaning.
We have implemented daily communications to our staff to reinforce cleaning and sanitation protocols for all common spaces including trucks and equipment.
We have installed mobile hand washing stations on all of our crew vehicles and have trained all of our crews on best practices regarding frequent hand washing.
All crew members are to wear gloves as much as possible.
We are assigning vehicles, tools, and equipment to specific crews to discourage sharing of tools, and all vehicles will be sanitized daily.
Our customer-facing staff members will adhere to the 6-ft social distancing guidelines and are encouraged to hold virtual meetings whenever appropriate.
Our office staff members have been directed to work remotely as much as possible, with the goal of limiting physical human interaction.
All staff are required to stay home if they are not feeling well and to remain at home until they are cleared to return.
With the arrival of spring, all of us at Chalet landscape stand ready to serve you. We are more committed than ever to be the source for bringing beauty to your home and landscape by creating your outdoor living oasis. To ensure your safety and comfort, our team members are available to connect with you however you’d like: Through our website, phone (847) 688-0561, email, chat, text, or a site visit with your permission. You can even set up a FaceTime or Zoom meeting with us for presentations.
During this unprecedented and challenging time, let us help create a sense of tranquility through nature. Please contact us if you have any questions regarding our landscape services. On behalf of the entire Chalet team, I thank you for being a loyal customer and for supporting small local businesses including Chalet.
Larry Thalmann
President, Chalet
Update March 21, 2020
In accordance with Gov. Pritzker’s “Stay at Home” order, our retail store will be closed to the public as of 5 pm, Saturday, March 21 to Tuesday, April 7. We remain ready to serve you 24/7 via our online store, or you can personally interact with our on-call staff members from the comfort of your home: By phone (847) 256-0561, email, Facebook chat, FaceTime, or through our digital “Shop from home” form. We offer free delivery to select Chicagoland areas, or you can take advantage of curbside pick-up.
Our Landscape Services staff stands ready to serve you. You can connect with us by phone, email, text, or video chat for your comfort and convenience.
Like many organizations, we have looked to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) for guidance in updating our practices and making our business decisions. We have increased both the frequency and the degree of our store cleaning, including common surfaces like checkout lanes, computer terminals, restrooms, door handles, and phones. We have installed a sanitizing wipe stand at the store entrance for our customers. Furthermore, we have provided hand sanitizer for our entire staff including both retail and landscape teams, and our staff will continuously be updated on the guidelines and are encouraged to stay home when they are not feeling well. Lastly, in accordance with CDC’s recommendations for eliminating large gatherings in a confined area, we are temporarily suspending lectures and classes in our Learning Center.
It’s paramount to ensure that we provide you with a safe and welcoming place to shop, and based on our own preparedness, we are confident to remain open for business. In addition to our Wilmette store, our website and online shopping are open 24/7 (www.ChaletNursery.com). We stand ready to serve you for all of your landscape and shopping needs.
On behalf of the entire Chalet team, I thank you for being a loyal Chalet customer.