Coronavirus: Sainsbury’s to extend supermarket opening hours from Monday
Sainsbury’s will extend its supermarket opening hours from Monday in a bid to keep its staff and customers safe from coronavirus.
It is one of a number of measures boss Mike Coupe announced yesterday to help Sainsbury’s cope with increased demand.
Currently Sainsbury’s is open from 7:30am to 8am Monday to Saturday for NHS workers. And from 8am to 9am – the first hour of Sainsbury’s opening hours – only elderly and social care workers can shop on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Sainsbury’s is then open to all shoppers until 8pm.
Under new plans, Sainsbury’s will extend opening hours from 8am until 10pm across most supermarkets, with their convenience stores closing at 11pm.
Coupe, who is due to retire on 1 June after 15 years at Sainsbury’s, said: “We are doing our best to reduce queuing times both inside and outside our stores.
“To help with queuing inside our stores we are installing additional protective screens between manned checkouts.”
The hope is to reduce the pressure across Sainsbury’s supermarkets as well as taking extra social distancing precautions.
The supermarket is also ramping up delivery services to help vulnerable shoppers who cannot leave the house.
Coupe reiterated Sainsbury’s concern and action taken for elderly people and said 725,000 have already been offered priority delivery slots.
With the goal of offering 600,000 delivery slots a week by the end of April, Sainsbury’s has also announced a volunteer shopping card scheme designed to help those shopping for others such as neighbours.
A telephone ordering service is also available for those unable to book online or take advantage of Sainsbury’s extended opening hours.
The call service has “five times the number of colleagues” as usual to help.
Coupe warned shoppers that queues outside Sainsbury’s supermarkets will continue during the coronavirus lockdown to ensure shoppers are not crowded in aisles.
“Our colleagues are working in really challenging circumstances, constantly trying to balanc the need to serve our customers well, to keep shelves stocked and to help people get in and out of shops as quickly as possible,” he told customers.
“Unfortunately this means they will ask you to queue outside shops when they are busy.”