Grocery chains alter hours to disinfect, restock shelves. What’s changed at Centre County stores?
While shoppers stock up on supplies as more coronavirus cases are confirmed, some grocery store chains in Centre County have taken additional precautions to ensure their facilities are clean and well stocked.
Local stores have seen their shelves cleared of groceries, hand sanitizers, disinfectant wipes, toilet paper, paper towels and masks. As a result, some stores have limited the purchase of certain goods in response to consumers stockpiling supplies due to coronavirus fears. In addition to limiting how much customers can buy, some stores have altered their hours to allow more time for sanitizing.
Giant Food stores, Wegmans, Sam’s Club and Walmart have altered their hours, so employees can clean and stock shelves.
Giant’s 24-hour locations will close at midnight and reopen at 6 a.m. the following day. Starting Tuesday, Giant Direct Delivery service will only provide “contactless” deliveries for all customers until further notice.
Wegmans will be open from 6 a.m. to midnight at all Pennsylvania locations, except Erie. The store has also placed temporary limits on the number of hygiene and wellness supplies and grocery items customers are permitted to buy.
Starting Tuesday, Sam’s Club will shift its opening hours to 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Saturday to ensure time to restock, clean and sanitize each location. Sunday hours will remain 10 a.m.-6 p.m., and prescheduled orders will be available for pickup, beginning at 7 a.m.
In a letter, Walmart informed customers that its stores will now be open from 6 a.m.-11 p.m. until further notice. Limits on purchases varies based on location.
“This will help ensure associates are able to stock the products our customers are looking for and to perform cleaning and sanitizing,” Walmart Executive Vice President Dacona Smith said in a statement. “Stores currently operating under more reduced hours — for example they regularly close at 10 p.m. or open at 7 a.m. — will keep their current hours of operation.”
Weis Market will be open from 7 a.m. -9 p.m., starting Tuesday. The store has temporarily shut down its Weis 2 Go online ordering with curbside pickup and home delivery; however, customers may still order groceries at weismarkets.com/shipt.
“As part of our COVID-19 prevention program, we have increased the time we devote each day to cleaning and disinfecting our stores, including high contact areas such as our cash registers, self-scan units, credit-debit terminals, fuel pumps, shopping carts and baskets,” Weis Chairman and CEO Jonathan Weis said in a statement.
Weis has also placed limits on water, hand sanitizer, milk, toilet paper, disinfectant and soap. More information can be found online.
Trader Joe’s has altered its hours. The store will be open from 9 a.m.-7 p.m.
Target said employees are cleaning surfaces, checkout lanes and touch screens every 30 minutes. It has also placed sales limits on products like hand sanitizer, toilet paper, wipes and water.
This story was originally published March 16, 2020 at 2:50 PM.
