Sainsbury’s and Tesco have each unveiled measures ranging from dedicated shopping times for the vulnerable to limited trading hours to cope with the impact of coronavirus.
Sainsbury’s will set aside the first hour of trading in all its supermarkets for the elderly or vulnerable this Thursday and will introduce priority access online delivery slots for those customers from next Monday. Tesco meanwhile is restricting trading times in its 24-hour stores in order to enable restocking – the branches will shut at 10pm and open again at 6am.
Sainsbury’s will also shut its in-store cafes, meat, fish and pizza counters from Thursday, and limit purchases on a wider range of products, chief executive Mike Coupe said in a letter to customers. Shoppers will be restricted to a maximum of three grocery products of any sort and a maximum of two from lines that are in high demand such as toilet paper, soap and UHT milk.
Coupe said: ”As we work to feed the nation, we are also focusing all of our efforts on getting as much food and other essential items from our suppliers, into our warehouses and onto shelves as we possibly can. We still have enough food for everyone – if we all just buy what we need for us and our families.”
He concludes his letter with a tribute to staff. Coupe wrote: ”I wanted to end by saying a huge thank you to Sainsbury’s colleagues across the business. Everyone is working flat out in difficult circumstances to do their best to serve our customers. If you’re able to say thank you to them when you see them, I know they would hugely appreciate it.”
A Tesco spokesman said: ‘We are changing these store hours to ensure we can serve customers better at this time. It gives our colleagues the time overnight to restock the store, replenish the shelves and support our online grocery service at a time when demand is high.’
No comments yet