Woolworths has introduced a dedicated shopping hour for the elderly and those with disability. The decision comes after panicked shoppers stripped shelves of goods amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Panic shopping meant many vulnerable people missed out on essential items in the frenzy. From Tuesday until at least Friday, supermarkets will open exclusively for the elderly and those with a disability from 7am until 8am where permitted. Image: News Corp Australia

In a dramatic move, Coles is suspending online shopping to anyone other than the vulnerable and isolated.

The supermarket made the announcement following Woolworths’ move to close all its stores early on Wednesday evening, and then each day after that, so it can restock stores as part of a drastic plan to manage the huge levels of panic buying in Australia.

Coles chief executive Steven Cain said they were making the online change so their vans could be dedicated to those most in need.

“We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience that this will cause and a further announcement

about this will be made in the coming days,” he said.

Woolworths revealed today it was selling seven weeks supply of toilet paper each and every day.

At Woolies from Thursday, elderly people and vulnerable Australians will also be able to pick up “care packages” filled with everyday essentials.

However, Australia’s largest grocer has said quantity limits could be placed on items beyond toilet paper, rice and pasta. In addition, some online delivery windows have been scaled back and click and collect is no longer available.

“We want to slow the panic down,” Woolworths managing director Claire Peters said today.

“We understand that our customers’ priority is to be prepared, but the vast majority of our food is grown or manufactured in Australia so there is not a concern with supply. What we have is a spike in demand.”

Speaking at a Sydney Woolies this afternoon, Ms Peters said the supermarket chain had experienced a “huge weekend” of shopping, far exceeding sales over Christmas or any time during the past 12 months.

Coles is recruiting more than 5000 casual team members to work in its supermarkets and will also have a “community hour” for the elderly and disadvantaged.

Click&Collect order won’t be accepted and Coles has temporarily cancelled its UberEats delivery service.

ALL STORES TO TEMPORARILY CLOSE EARLY

Woolworths’ plan to get its supermarkets back in a more normal state includes putting more trucks on the road to get food to stores, making better use of distribution centres and doing more deliveries direct to branches cutting out the warehouse altogether.

“What we’re facing is a short term spike. All of that product is coming back into stores over the coming days and weeks,” she said.

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The most radical action will be a temporary nationwide shutdown of all Woolworths’ 1000 stores nationwide at 8pm starting on Wednesday, several hours earlier than usual for most Woolies supermarkets. All stores will close at the earlier time of 8pm from then on.

The stores will then reopen no earlier than 7am on Thursday and every other day after that.

“This will allow us to replenish stores in a calm manner,” said Ms Peters, alluding to wild scenes in some stores where customers have been grabbing toilet paper as soon as it appears on the aisles, often not making it to shelves.

CARE PACKAGES FOR ELDERLY

She specifically addressed the ongoing issue of the lack of toilet paper, which is still missing from many shelves despite a limit of two packs per customer.

“Loo roll is a large cube that takes up a lot of space on trucks. But the great news is we are seeing huge support from our suppliers that have changed their lines to different packs sizes so more customers can get their hands on packs,” she said.

Woolworths currently has quantity limits on toilet paper, wipes, paper towels, serviettes, rice and some other items.

Ms Peters warned that more products could be added to that list of buying level continued. On the weekend Coles added mince to its limited list

This morning, Woolworths said it would from tomorrow limit the first hour of shopping, between 7 and 8am, to just the elderly and vulnerable Australians who have struggled more than most to get their hands on the essentials. Some IGA stores have announced a similar initiative.

From Thursday, Woolworths will also offer care packages for these shoppers that can be picked up at any time from the customer service desk. Both the early opening and care packages can be accessed by people with a government concession card.

“As you’d expect these packages will include some of the things people have been panic buying, like toilet roll and pasta,” she said.

However, Ms Peters warned that the company’s stores and warehouses “don’t have sponge walls” and can’t be expanded with more stock indefinitely. She appealed for shoppers to return to more standard levels of grocery shopping.

She also urged customers to respect Woolies’ staff despite the lower stock levels on some items.

“Our team have done an outstanding, incredible job. But no matter how frustrating the customer experience is, no one should come to work to be abused.”

ONLINE AND CLICK AND COLLECT

Woolworths has placed a further limit on online orders closing off its two-hour delivery window. This is a swifter window which customers pay extra for.

This weekend, the company also suspended all supermarket pick-up click and collect services nationwide.

However, Woolworths denied an earlier report today that it was shutting down online shopping altogether.

“We saw an extraordinary level of demand for groceries across the country this weekend. We’re continuing to offer our delivery service in most parts of the country,” a spokeswoman said.

The company did say delivery had been “temporarily paused” in parts of Victoria except for areas of Melbourne serviced by its centre in West Footscray.

News.com.au has contacted IGA to see what they’re doing.

On Friday, Mr Cain said staff had been working “as hard as possible” to get more products on shelves.

“As the situation around coronavirus continues to develop, we believe that everyone in the community should have access to their share of grocery items, particularly the elderly,” he said.

Coles, like Woolies, has seen a huge increase in online orders and some customers have had to wait up to a week for a delivery window.

In a statement Aldi said it was “assessing how we can further assist shoppers” to access essential groceries.

“We ask our customers to remember to show kindness, empathy and calmness when shopping with us,” a spokeswoman said.

benedict.brook@news.com.au