Many large grocery chains have announced special shopping hours this week for seniors and other people who are more vulnerable to COVID-19, but the rollout has caused confusion.
At a Safeway store in San Jose Thursday morning, elderly shoppers said they were surprised to see there was no enforcement of the policy that was designed to give them hours to pick up food before customers of any age and health entered the market.
“I got here, waited in line, called my daughter and told her there’s a lot of young people ahead of me. Are they gonna let the seniors in first?” asked one 65-year-old shopper. “And they let everybody in. Whoever was here first, got in first.”
Safeway is reserving openings hours of 7-9 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays for vulnerable shoppers. Target is reserving the first hour of business each Wednesday, and Whole Foods is one hour early on a daily basis for vulnerable shoppers. Walmart announced that starting March 24 there will be a senior shopping event on Tuesday one hour before stores open to the general public.
Based on early evidence, it may be tough to implement these reserved blocs of time without strict enforcement.
There was a yellow sign on the doors asking shoppers to respect the new policy, which is intended to allow vulnerable people to shop without exposing themselves to the general population and stock up on necessary goods before stores run out. The policy does also include younger shoppers who may have underlying health conditions that make them more susceptible to the virus.
“I expected at least one of the security guards here because I usually shop later in the afternoon and there’s always somebody here but yeah, pretty surprising,” said one 74-year-old shopper. “But this is brand new and I didn’t really think they’d have big control over this. So I’m sure they’re just letting in a lot of people.”
The shoppers were hopeful that as word spreads, customers will respect the limited hours.
That is the hope of Safeway executives as well. One official says they will start with friendly reminders but may start enforcing the rules if necessary.