Sainsbury’s and Asda close cafes and fresh food counters due to coronavirus
SAINSBURY'S and Asda are set to close their cafes, as well as meat, fish and pizza counters in supermarkets from Thursday to help them free up warehouse and lorry capacity.
The retailers said the closures would be temporary while they try to get on top of the increased demand from people buying during the coronavirus crisis.
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"It will also free up time for our store colleagues to focus on keeping the shelves as well stocked as possible," Sainsbury's said.
Its cafes will be shut, and you will not be able to buy meat or fish from specialist counters.
The pizza counter will also be closed.
Sainsbury's also confirmed that the closures extend to all other hot food and bakery items.
Asda, meanwhile, said it wanted to "prioritise getting the essential products onto our shelves" so would be closing "non-essential services", such as rotisserie and pizza counters.
We have asked Sainsbury's and Asda how long they anticipate the counters to be closed.
Sainsbury's said it would be "reviewed on an ongoing basis".
And we have also asked Tesco and Morrisons if they are doing the same.
From today, a number of supermarkets have said they will limit sales of every item in stores and online to try to stamp out panic-buying.
Sainsbury's said customers will be able to buy a maximum of three of any grocery item and two of the most popular products, such as toilet paper, soap and UHT milk.
And older shoppers will have stores to themselves for the first hour of opening from tomorrow - plus get priority home delivery slots from Monday.
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Boss Mike Coupe said in a letter: “We have enough food coming into the system, but are limiting sales so that it stays on shelves for longer and can be bought by a larger numbers of customers.”
It also said: “We will set aside the first hour in every supermarket this Thursday, March 19, for elderly and vulnerable customers.
"If you or an elderly family member, friend or neighbour would like to shop during this hour, please check online for your local supermarket opening hours.
"For all other customers, supermarkets will open one hour after the published opening time.
"I hope that you can respect this decision and will work with us as we try our best to help those that need it the most.
"We will also help elderly and vulnerable customers access food online.
"From Monday, March 23, our online customers who are over 70 years of age or have a disability will have priority access to online delivery slots."
Asda and Tesco have made similar moves today.
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Last night, Tesco began cutting opening times for hundreds of 24-hour stores, which will now operate from 6am to 10pm.
While Morrisons announced it was creating 3,500 new home delivery jobs to cope with rising demand.
It came as a fresh wave of panic-buying set in across the country with supermarket shelves stripped bare in minutes.