COVID-19 Updates

03/20/2020

Dear Friends,

First of all, we hope you and your loved ones are ok.  Please practice social distancing, stay safe, and look after each other. We are all truly in this together. We at BigCeramicStore have been adapting to this situation as fast as possible with the resources we have available.   We are so grateful for the support and understanding many of you have shown with our team in the past week.  As our company motto says, we've been supporting creative artists since 1999.  Right now, we're doing everything in our power to live up to it. 

We're writing to give you a quick update regarding our operations:

Customer Support: our #1 priority right now is the health and well-being of our staff and their families.  For this reason, all our support staff is currently working from home.  But don't worry, they can answer your calls and emails as if they were in the office, since we were already set up for remote working as part of our business continuity plans. 

Inventory: while part our supply chain has also been affected by COVID-19, we do have sufficient stock for now.  Our website is only showing in-stock inventory and we have stopped accepting special orders / pre-orders until we understand supply chain availability better. 

Equipment Orders: we are accepting equipment orders as normal, as these ship directly from the manufacturers.  Please remember most large equipment (kilns, pugmills) are made to order and take several weeks to manufacture.  We also ask for your patience as our vendors are dealing with similar challenges with their production schedules.

Fulfillment: like many other businesses across our country, we're dealing with an unprecedented operational challenge.  We have seen an increase in orders at a time when our fulfillment operations at both our west coast (Reno, NV) and east coast (Lebanon, NH) locations are operating at a slower pace given the social distancing policies we've implemented. We thank you in advance for your patience as we work to get orders out as quickly as possible.  

Retail Stores: if you live near one of our retail stores, you can still order and pay online, and select the pickup option. We'll contact you when your order is ready for pickup.

Most importantly - remember you're not alone.  Today, more than ever, we are all truly in this together.  Look after yourselves and each other.  We will get through this.  Then we'll rebuild and come back stronger than ever.  With a much deeper appreciation of what truly matters in life.