Coronavirus: Sainsbury's, Tesco and M&S stores in Stamford, Bourne and Oakham offer NHS staff and elderly people allocated shopping hours
Saisnbury's has today offered all NHS and social care staff dedicated shopping hours across three days each week.
The supermarket giant has rolled out the gesture to tireless healthcare workers as they endure long hours during the coronavirus outbreak and struggle to pick up essentials as panic buyers strip shelves bare.
The same slots will also be extended to the elderly and vulnerable, who enjoyed a dedicated shopping hour on Thursday.
It means on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, they will all have a dedicated one-hour slot between 8am and 9am.
Pubs have already shut in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak
There are Sainsbury's stores in Ryhall Road, Stamford and Exeter Street in Bourne.
Sainsbury's chief executive Mike Coupe explained: "Last Thursday, we set aside an hour for elderly and vulnerable shoppers in our supermarkets.
"Many of you have told me how much you appreciated this and that you would like this to become a regular event.
"Some of you also said we should extend this to members of our hardworking NHS and Social Care workers. And we will be doing just that.
"Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, all our supermarkets will dedicate 8am - 9am to serving elderly, disabled and vulnerable customers, as well as NHS and social care workers.
He added workers would need to show an ID pass on their visit.
He used his message to shoppers to announce all stores will now consolidate their opening times to 8am to 8pm to allow shelves to be restocked.
He also urged customers to keep their distance from shop staff.
"To keep our colleagues safe, I need to ask again for your help," he said.
"Please do your best to stand one metre away from colleagues in our stores where you can. And we would prefer you to pay with card rather than cash at our tills. Please also treat our colleagues and other customers with kindness and respect.
"These are unprecedented circumstances and our colleagues are being asked to come to work every day while so many others are being asked to stay at home. We all need them to keep coming to work to feed the nation – a small thank you goes a really long way.
"I hope you will join us in looking out for each other and the communities that we serve."
Supermarket giants Tesco and M&S had previously answered calls to give heroic NHS staff allotted shopping times during the fight against coronavirus.
Doctors and nurses will be among those allowed a dedicated one-hour slot at Tesco tomorrow (Sunday, March 22), while M&S is opening its doors to healthcare staff for the first hour of trading on Tuesdays and Fridays, which started yesterday (Friday, March 20).
Tesco has stores in High Street, Stamford; South Road, Bourne; South Street in Oakham and Godsey Lane in Market Deeping.
Meanwhile, there is a M&S in High Street, Stamford; a Foodhall at the Burghley Centre in Bourne and an M&S Simply Food on Lands' End Way in Oakham.
In a statement, Tesco said: "We know that those working for the NHS may be finding it hard to find time to shop for their groceries at the moment.
"So, from this Sunday, we’re going to introduce a special hour in stores for NHS staff as a thank you for all they are doing.
"They can come to our large stores one hour before the usual store opening time every Sunday, and will be able to browse the store and select their shopping before the checkouts open.
"All we ask is that they bring a form of ID with them to store, such as an NHS staff card.
"We will be asking all other customers to be respectful of this and to shop during the usual Sunday opening hours."
M&S said it was introducing a "special shopping hour" to support "our dedicated NHS and emergency service workers".
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