Palouse grain selling business sees huge uptick in sales from coronavirus

March 11, 2020 7:37 PM

Elenee Dao,

Posted: March 11, 2020 7:37 PM

Updated: March 12, 2020 8:24 AM

by Elenee Dao

Palouse Trading Warehouse Full Of Usps Packages — COPYRIGHT 4 NEWS NOW

PALOUSE, Wash. — A grain selling business in Palouse is seeing a big impact from the coronavirus.

Since the spread of COVID-19 started, the company Palouse Trading has seen a huge spike in sales. So much that it saw a 500 percent uptick in sales in the last few weeks compared to this time last year.

Palouse Trading sells small bags of garbanzo beans, lentils, chickpeas and more through Amazon.

Owner Sarah Mader said it’s been so busy they had to switch it from shipping from an Amazon warehouse to shipping it out of their own warehouse.

Just last week, Mader sent six-weeks worth of inventory to an Amazon warehouse and in a few hours it was all sold out.

Mader said she had no idea why it was happening all of a sudden, then figured out it was because of the coronavirus and people stocking up.

“I had to buy AirPods, put them in my ears and have national news come into my phone so that every time I knew that the CDC talked about the coronavirus you could go online and watch my sales trend go straight up,” Mader told 4 News Now.

Mader said she tries to hire single mothers or those who have someone at home who may have a disability.

Since the uptick in sales happened about three weeks ago, she’s had to hire a lot more people. She said she has about 10 times more people working for her now than she normally does. They’re still looking to hire more.

“What these sales have done for us is be able to provide these women with a job and healthcare for them, their loved ones and their children,” Mader said. “That’s kind of the heart message behind what we’ve done.”

You can learn more about Palouse Brand here.

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