CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- For months COVID-19 has impacted thousands of businesses here in North Carolina.

Two sisters in Charlotte were running a restaurant and a grocery store when the pandemic forced them to close their restaurant down.

For the last six years, Bonnie Warford and her sister Tricia Maddrey have run their grocery store in the Elizabeth neighborhood.

“Our great grandfather had a grocery business in Pennsylvania in the late 1800's," said Warford. "We had a bakery in the family in the 40's, so it just runs in our blood. We’re already in the restaurant business but try to do something a little bit different.”

Now COVID-19 is putting that legacy to the test.

The pandemic is not only impacting their grocery store, but it forced the two to close down their 30 year-old restaurant Carpe Diem.

“I think it’s been hard for our regular customers, but we’re trying to bring back their favorite items and at least do them as specials on a weekly basis," said Warford.

With their restaurant closed, COVID-19 soon began creating new challenges for their grocery store too.

“Unlike the restaurant side of the industry, we have run into many outages with products," said Warford. "Every time we place an order, they’re out of at least 30 percent of the products that we try to get in, and there’s still products that we haven’t got in because the manufactures are out of stock.”

Warford says they decided to replace the seating inside their grocery story with shelves, bring in more groceries, and prepare take-out food for customers.

While these last few months have been challenging, Warford and her sister are hopeful for the future of Earl’s Grocery.

“We’ve had a high learning curve on this admittedly, but you know we’re getting there and I think we’re finally getting in the final stages of figuring it all out," she said.

Both sisters tell Spectrum News 1 they are currently in the process of creating an online ordering app for customers.

They’re hoping to have that app up and ready by the end of September.