Dayton chamber starts online store to help businesses reopen

An online personal protective equipment store aims to help provide Dayton-area businesses the supplies needed to reopen safely during the coronavrius pandemic.

The store, StaySafe Dayton, was created through a partnership between the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce and Miamisburg-based ecommerce business epluno.

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It pools the needs of nearly 2,000 chamber business members to buy products in bulk at lower prices.

Chamber members will have preferred pricing on items such as masks, face shields, alcohol wipes, hand sanitizer, social distancing signs and more.

The supplies will be kept in a warehouse and shipped immediately to Dayton-area businesses.

“We know our business community is working to open their doors responsibly, but one of their biggest needs is personal protection equipment and other tools necessary to enforce cleanliness and social distancing in the workplace,” said Chris Kershner, executive vice president, Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce. “Many of these supplies are being sold at high prices or are hard to find right now. We wanted to help alleviate that problem.”

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epluno will manage the online story and orders, while also getting input from the chamber and its members about their needs.

“Like many other businesses, epluno had to make changes during this unprecedented time. We saw the supply chain for essential items was not reliable so we wanted to jump in and help in any way we can,” said Paul Scapatici, founder, owner and president of epluno. “We love working with the chamber to support our local community.”

If a business cannot find necessary supplies on the online store, they should contact epluno immediately.

“If there’s a product our business community needs that we don’t currently have, our partners will help them find it,” said Kershner.

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The StaySafe Dayton store in available at DaytonChamber.org. The online store will be available to all businesses, regardless of chamber membership, to help support the entire Dayton-area business community. Chamber members will receive discounted price and exclusive access to harder to find items as a benefit of their membership.

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