Publix, Winn-Dixie, Dollar General and Whole Foods are part of a growing number of stores making sure elderly shoppers and other people sensitive to the coronavirus conditions can get what they need from stores.
Starting next week, Publix will designate the 7-8 a.m. hour on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for customers 65 and over. Publix pharmacies will also open at 7 a.m. for that use.
And starting Wednesday, all Target stores will close by 9 p.m. and will dedicate an hour every Wednesday morning to those shoppers who are most vulnerable, including the elderly and those with underlying health concerns.
“Families are counting on Target for critical supplies during this challenging time, and we’ll continue to do all that we can to keep our stores open,” the retailer said in a statement.” For weeks, we’ve been responding to the impact of the coronavirus by taking care of our team, rigorously cleaning our stores and helping our guests find the food, medicine and other essentials they need for themselves and their families.”
At Winn-Dixie, a designated shopping hour will also be dedicated to seniors and high-risk customers from 8-9 a.m., Monday through Friday and all pharmacy locations will open at 8 a.m. on weekdays to provide prescription refills, influenza and pneumonia vaccines and customer counseling.
Effective this week, Dollar General is “strongly encouraging that the first hour of operations each day be dedicated solely for the shopping needs of senior customers, who are one of the groups most vulnerable to the COVID-19 coronavirus.”
Like other stores, all Dollar Generals plan to close one hour earlier than current close times to allow employees to clean and re-stock store shelves.
Whole Foods customers over aged 60 can also shop an hour before the store opens.
