Big support for what’s in store
Supermarkets limit shoppers
BRINSMEAD mum Trudy McMurray (with daughter Emma) believes shoppers will have less chance of taking home coronavirus thanks to new measures introduced at supermarkets. Coles and Woolworths have both introduced new limits to the number of shoppers allowed into their stores at any one time. But stock levels of essential items such as toilet paper and hand sanitiser are still a problem at local supermarkets.
CAIRNS shoppers have given Australia’s supermarket giants a big thumbs up for introducing new measures to stop the spread of coronavirus.
But stock levels of essential items such as toilet paper and hand sanitiser are still a problem at local supermarkets.
Coles and Woolworths yesterday both introduced new limits on the amount of shoppers allowed into supermarkets at any one time, to enable social distancing.
The number of customers allowed in any Woolworths stores at any one time will be dependent on the size of the store.
Outside Woolworths stores, there will be signage and a coned area instructing customers where to queue, and the number of customers in-store will be managed using a onein, one-out policy.
At Coles, staff members are being posted to store entrances to provide assistance to shoppers, to let them know when it is okay to enter.
Brinsmead mum Trudy McMurray, who went shopping at Woolworths Redlynch yesterday, welcomed the new restrictions.
“I’m glad to see it now,” she said.
“Cairns is a bit different to bigger cities. We only have 30 (COVID-19) cases compared to 300-400 down in Brisbane. But I think the new measures are a really good thing, and we need to do it for the moment now until the pandemic goes away and we find a vaccine.”
She said stocks still appeared a bit “hit and miss” with items such as toilet paper, selfraising flour and pasta still in short supply.
Another Brinsmead shopper, Megan Henriksen, took her headphones along to Woolies yesterday afternoon in anticipation of a long queue to get into the store.
However she was pleasantly surprised to find not many people inside.
“I think (the supermarket) is handling this really well: staff were friendly, and there were people at the end of aisles to make sure they didn’t fill up too much,” she said.
“It was pretty good, I reckon.”
She said it appeared there was enough stock inside the supermarket, except for baking goods.
Woolworths Supermarkets managing director Claire Peters said customer limits would be specific to each location and based on the size of the store.
“Our store managers will use common sense discretion to manage this in the interest of community safety,’ she said.
“We know it may take some getting used to but we ask our customers to be patient with us during this time.
“Supermarkets overseas have successfully adopted similar measures.
“We also encourage everyone to be community-minded when queuing.”