Woolworths, Coles to limit customer numbers in all stores from Monday

Woolworths and Coles will limit the number of customers it allows in stores from Monday to help address the strict social distancing rules.

Woolworths and Coles will introduce new reduced customer limits in stores on Monday to enforce social distancing, with reports one has already started letting in only eight customers at a time.

Coles will enforce is restricted access of customers with security guards.

Coles boss Matt Swindles said from Monday it would be “restricting the number of customers that can enter a store should we get to a volume that is too great for us to maintain” a safe distance.

He said this would be enforced with a combination of third party security guards and specially-trained Coles staff.

How many customers are let inside Woolworths to shop at any given time will be determined by the floor space of each individual store.

Customers may be counted at the door and asked to queue in the street, being allowed in as other shoppers finish buying and leave the store.

The Woolworths store at Richmond in NSW has reportedly already limited access to just eight people at one time.

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Supermarkets giant Woolworths will introduce new customer limits in stores on Monday.

“Customers will start to notice stores implementing new social distancing measures in the lead-up to the Easter weekend,” Woolworths said in a statement to news.com.au.

“Depending on how busy a store is, we may limit the number of people entering the store from time to time.

“Customer limits will 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.”

Mr Swindles said Coles would be enforcing “1.5m of separation, 15 minutes face-to-face or two hours side-by-side” to create a safe environment.

This comes as Woolworths boss Brad Banducci sent an email to shoppers to update on the current situation and to respond to some of the most common questions he’s hearing from the public and his own family.

He revealed the supermarket giant had sold 20.5 million rolls of toilet paper in one week but he said things were “slowly” getting back to normal.

He said an extra 1000 pallets of pasta was arriving at Woolies stores each week, equating to more than half a million extra packs.

Mr Banducci also said the company was “making good progress” reactivating home delivery area by area and hoped to have all areas operational immediately after Easter.

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