What Are You Stockpiling for Coronavirus?

[Sarah]

I agree with Deborah Meaden that Tim Martin is a selfish idiot. However I don't think his pubs will remain open, the Sky News soundbite was a futile and profit-motivated attempt to discourage the ban before it was announced. There were already reports of Weatherspoons closing yesterday evening; their licences would be under threat if they didn't comply.

[Sarah]

Tesco introduced limits on max 3 of any item across their stores since Thursday. They're now also setting aside 9am-10am for vulnerable and elderly customers every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning (excluding Express stores).

Sainsbury's are reducing store hours to 8am-8pm from Monday. They're dedicating the first hour 8am-9am to serving elderly, disabled and vulnerable customers, NHS and Social Care workers in all their supermarkets every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Waitrose are also reserving the first hour of opening as a priority shopping time for the elderly, the vulnerable and those who look after them. They already decided to close all Waitrose cafes and rotisseries and to suspend complimentary coffee for myWaitrose members. Sales of many in-demand products are limited and some stores closing early.

I don't get updates from Asda, Morrisons or others but understand that Asda is now closing all stores between midnight and 6am and operating the same max 3 per item limit. Iceland apparently has an hour for elderly shoppers between 8am-9am.

Supermarkets are requesting customers to keep a safe distance from staff and avoid using cash if possible. Some other shops are no longer accepting cash.

[pabenny]

Asda have reduced opening hours to 8-8, with the first hour for NHS staff on Mon/Weds/Fri.

They will also be donating £5m to foodbanks.

[Chadwick]

Waitrose are also reserving the first hour of opening as a priority shopping time for the elderly, the vulnerable and those who look after them. They already decided to close all Waitrose cafes and rotisseries and to suspend complimentary coffee for myWaitrose members. Sales of many in-demand products are limited and some stores closing early.

My Waitrose this morning had put lines on the floor at the tills. You wait behind the line, an assistant loads your purchases onto the conveyor, and then you move to the back of the till to pack your trolley, effectively keeping you at least a metre from the cashier for the whole duration. The next customer does not cross the line until the previous one has vacated the pack-and-pay zone.

This did result in queues down the aisle, that I suspect would not have been there normally.

Tesco on the other hand had taken no such precautions. But they did have plenty of eggs, which Waitrose did not.

[Chadwick]

I agree with Deborah Meaden that Tim Martin is a selfish idiot. However I don't think his pubs will remain open, the Sky News soundbite was a futile and profit-motivated attempt to discourage the ban before it was announced. There were already reports of Weatherspoons closing yesterday evening; their licences would be under threat if they didn't comply.

They didn't even last the night.

Dear customer

Following instruction from the UK Government, we are currently closed until further notice.

We will post updates here.

We look forward to welcoming you back to our pubs soon.

Kind regards

John Hutson
Chief Executive

UPDATED: Friday 20 March 2020 at 10pm

[expressman33]

It would be a good idea for all supermarkets to have hand sanitiser dispensers ( containing alcohol) for people to use as they enter and leave the supermarket . You don't know who has touched the trolley or basket before you.

[Sarah]

If there are customer toilets, can wash your hands there; obviously not ideal because of having to touch doors, perhaps problematic dryers and sometimes taps that only run for a few seconds at a time... but nevertheless better than nothing if you don't have any other option!

[Sarah]

Sainsbury's are reducing store hours to 8am-8pm from Monday. They're dedicating the first hour 8am-9am to serving elderly, disabled and vulnerable customers, NHS and Social Care workers in all their supermarkets every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Sainsbury's will now split these groups instead, with stores opening for NHS and Social Care workers from 7.30am-8am daily (except Sunday obviously).

[Oggy]

Stores should lock up trolleys and force customers to use a basket. Panic buying solved. Simples...

[Boro Boy]

Stores should lock up trolleys and force customers to use a basket. Panic buying solved. Simples...

Supermarkets are not a State Company and they are in the business of making money from selling commodities; only their social responsibility will change things but even then not if it stands in the way of making a profit - such is the way of the world.