Some grocery stores are offering special hours for the elderly, the pregnant, and the vulnerable at the beginning of each day during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Starting March 19, Stop & Shop will offer hours specifically to seniors, who the CDC and local health officials say are most vulnerable to COVID-19, from 6 a.m. to 7:30 a.m.
“Stop & Shop is making the decision to allow community members in this age category to shop in a less crowded environment, which better enables social distancing,” a spokesperson said.
Stop & Shop at 245 Littleton Road in Morris Plains. – CBRE
Stop & Shop will not be requiring ID for entry but request that customers “respect the purpose of the early opening – and do the right thing for our older neighbors.”
Folks in other age groups will be asked to leave the store during those hours. There are 62 Stop & Shop locations in New Jersey.
Kings Food Markets, which has 23 locations statewide, is encouraging high-risk guests to shop in the first hour after the store opens.
Super FoodTown Chief Executive Officer Lou Scaduto told NJBIZ Monday evening that he and his staff had started the discussion about special hours that day, that he was “trying to work through the mechanics of it,” and that he would provide an update soon on measures at his five locations.
In its state of emergency declared Monday, Jersey City announced that all supermarkets with three registers or more have reserved 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. only for senior residents’ shopping; general public from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m.; and 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. for disabled, pregnant women, and senior residents. All other hours will be open to all residents.
ShopRite and Wegmans did not return a request for comment by press time. Additional grocers offering the special hours will be added to this article if the list grows.
