Central England Co-op has outlined the second phase of social distancing measures aimed at keeping colleagues, customers and members safe in its stores.
The new features will include permanent hand sanitiser stations at the front of all stores and a one-way system being put in place permanently with the help of signage and the reformatting of shops.
These new measures will sit alongside a raft of others already in place including over 1,000 plastic screens at till points and 7,000 face visors issued to staff.
The retailer is now asking customers to help its colleagues and their fellow customers by adhering to all of the social distancing guidelines in place to keep everyone safe and healthy during these uncertain times.
Debbie Robinson, Chief Executive, said, “Nothing is more important to us all at Central England Cooperative than the safety of our colleagues and customers.
“We’re closely following Government advice in our approach to social distancing and have now rolled out a range of new measures for our stores to sit alongside what we already have in place.
“We now ask all of our customers to co-operate with these measures to keep us all safe and allow us to continue to serve our communities.”
Measures already in place include:
• Stores using every other till point or checkout to keep customers and colleagues a safe distance apart
• Special markings installed in front of till points and checkouts of at least one metre. If a customer needs to enter this area to place down a basket or use the keypad, colleagues move backwards to maintain a safe distance
• Special markings installed to showcase two-metre safe distances while queueing at till points
• Customers are asked to pay with card or contactless if possible
• Specialist cleaning products are used to regularly wipe down the countertops and chip and pin machines, ATMs, baskets and trolleys
• Special markings installed throughout stores to showcase to customers two metre spacing and customers are asked to maintain these distances while shopping
• Special markings installed outside stores so customers queuing to enter maintain safe distances of two metres.
