Coronavirus: New supermarket opening times

Major supermarkets have changed their opening hours and rules in response to the coronavirus outbreak, in an effort to curb panic buying

Asda, Aldi, Tesco, M&S, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Iceland have changed their opening hours and rules in response to the coronavirus outbreak reported first in the Mirror

Supermarkets have released their new opening times in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Panic buying has left many shops short of stock, forcing the Government to loosen restrictions on supermarkets to ensure essential goods are available.

All of the major supermarkets, including Asda, Aldi, Tesco, M&S, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Iceland, have now changed their opening hours.

They have also introduced new rules to keep both stores and shoppers safe.

Today Sainsbury’s announced that it will be taking further action to make sure supermarkets are functioning to their best possible ability, the Manchester Evening News reports.

Sainsbury’s: New open hours

Sainsbury’s has now updated its extended opening times and store rules.

In a letter to customers, the supermarket’s CEO Mike Coupe said: “You will have seen that we put restrictions in place this week to ensure that more products are on shelf for longer. From Monday 23rd March, we are consolidating our opening hours and all our supermarkets will be open from 8am to 8pm, Monday-Saturday, including those with an Argos store. Sunday opening, Sainsbury’s Local and petrol station opening times will stay the same.”

The new opening times include a special opening concession to NHS workers and vulnerable customers.

Priority shopping for NHS workers and for elderly and disabled customers

NHS and social care workers to shop for half an hour before they open each day. So anyone with NHS ID will be able to shop from 07.30-08.00 every day from Monday to Saturday.

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, all our supermarkets will dedicate 8am – 9am to serving elderly, disabled and vulnerable customers, as well as NHS and Social Care workers.

To find the opening hours for your local store, visit  www.stores.sainsburys.co.uk

Asda : New open hours

A number of restrictions are now in place at Asda due to the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak.

The supermarket confirmed via Twitter that customers would now be able to buy up to three of any product across all food items, toiletries and cleaning products.

Asda will be temporarily closing its 24 hour stores between 12am and 6am.

To check opening hours for your local store, visit  www.storelocator.asda.com.

Tesco’s : New open hours

A number of stores are now operating at reduced hours due to “operational reasons”, Tesco said on Twitter after photos showed shelves cleared of food and other essential goods.

Some Tesco Extra stores and larger Metro stores have reduced their hours to between 6am and 10pm so they can properly restock overnight.

Tomorrow (Sunday 22 March) Tesco will be offering priority browsing to NHS workers an hour before stores open. It will not apply to Express stores.

Tesco has put restrictions on certain products including anti-bacterial wipes, dried pasta and toilet roll. Products are now limited to two per customer.

Zoe Evans, of Tesco’s UK Customer Engagement Centre, said: “We’ll do our best to keep shelves stocked up but at times, we may have low or no availability of some items.

Find your  nearest Tesco shop here

Aldi : New open hours

Aldi’s opening hours are 8am to 9pm from Monday to Saturday, and 11am to 5pm on Sundays.

To check your local store, visit  www.aldi.co.uk.

Morrisons : New open hours

Morrisons have introduced an NHS hour

from 7am-8am Monday-Saturday

All colleagues with an NHS badge will be able to get into the store to stock up on the products they need.

Please note Morrisons cafes are also changing to a takeaway service for all customers.

Iceland : New open hours

Opening hours vary across the country. To find the opening hours for your local Morrisons store, visit Morrison’s Store finder Here

Iceland will open its supermarkets early for elderly customers to visit before stores open to the public.

Each day, elderly shoppers can visit between 8am – 9am to get their shopping first.

To check opening times at your local store, visit  www.iceland.co.uk.

M&S : New open hours

M&S stores have confirmed that older and more vulnerable customers, as well as NHS workers, will have time set apart for them to make sure they are able to purchase the essentials they need.

A statement read: “Supporting our customers and communities during this difficult time is our number one priortiy.

“We want to make sure everyone has access to the items they need, so we are setting aside the first hour of trading on certain days for our older and vulnerable customers, and for our brilliant NHS and emergency workers.

“For older and vulnerable customers, this started on Friday 20th March, and going forward after that, on Mondays and Thursdays.

“For NHS and emergency workers, this will be Tuesdays and Fridays.

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