Woolworths will open its doors exclusively to the elderly and people with disabilities for a dedicated shopping hour, after panic buying due to the coronavirus stripped shelves of essentials items.
Most of its supermarkets across the nation will open to the vulnerable only from 7am to 8am, beginning on Tuesday.
Panic buying in recent weeks sparked by the spread of COVID-19 in Australia has seen supermarkets stripped of toilet paper, pasta and tinned and other dried goods.
“The move has been prompted by the unprecedented demand in supermarkets over the past week, which has seen many elderly and vulnerable people in the community missing out on vital items they may need when they shop,” Woolworths announced on Monday.
Managing Director Claire Peters said despite the retailer’s attempts to quickly restock shelves, many elderly customers had and an continued to miss out.
“This temporary measure will give them, and those with a disability, the opportunity to shop before our stores officially open - helping them obtain the essential items they need most in a less crowded environment,” Mr Peters said.
Access will be granted if the shopper has a relevant government issued concession card.
All other shoppers will be granted access after 8am.
“Now - more than ever - we need to be kind to each other,” Ms Peters said.
Merykare on March 16th, 2020 at 00:20 UTC »
I work at a grocery store and people have been fucking savages. We're normally open 6am-12am but had to change our hours to 8am-8pm and institute an item limit on toilet paper, hand soap, meat, eggs, etc. We can't get any stocking done during the day because people swarm like vultures. Constant fucking phone calls wanting to know what we have in stock, then people turning up 2 hours later pissed that we're already out. Even though we have signage up all over the place about the item limits people try to sneak shit through self checkout. If anyone makes the mistake of leaving their cart unattended, people snatch stuff out of it.
I ran into my elderly neighbor while working and implored him not to come in anymore. If he and his wife need anything I'll get it for them. They're risking their health coming in just to find the shelves already picked bare.
cyborg_127 on March 15th, 2020 at 22:04 UTC »
It's a fantastic idea, and glad to see a positive response to combat the panic buying morons. But to be honest I think they might need more than one hour to complete their shopping.
Higgsb912 on March 15th, 2020 at 21:54 UTC »
After seeing so many videos showing the worst of humanity grab toilet paper out of each other's hand, this is a nice counter balance. People who are able bodied should check on their elderly neighbors by contacting building management, we need to quarantine but there are ways to protect oneself and others and still help those less fortunate out.