Across the nation, supply chains and grocery stores are adjusting to meet new needs as anxious shoppers empty shelves (the toilet-paper-shortage-saga is well-established by now)) and, in the wake of restaurant closures, cook for themselves.
With social distancing measures being implemented to stop the spread of the coronavirus, shopping trips are becoming many people’s only big trip outside the house.
For the elderly and immunocompromised, though, shopping in a crowd of people is an even greater gamble.
Some stores are implementing special hours for this vulnerable population. In Durham, the Durham Cop-op Market is offering “Senior + High-Risk Shopping Hours” on Tuesday, Fridays, and Sundays between 10 and 11 a.m. A limited number of staff will be on the floor to limit exposure.
The hours, Durham Co-op Operations Manager Davis Hodge says, are in response to multiple requests from shoppers. The co-op is also reducing hours from 11-7, in order to allow for more time to clean and restock the store.
Elsewhere in the Triangle, bigger chains are doing their part. Target is setting aside the “first hour of shopping each Wednesday” for “vulnerable guests.” Target has reduced its hours and is closing at 9 p.m. daily.
Whole Foods is making those special shopping hours a daily opportunity for seniors, specifically, with the first hour of every day set aside for senior customers 70 and older. Dollar General is also reserving the first hour of every day for seniors.
Beginning March 23, Harris Teeter is designating the hours between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. as “senior shopping hours” for those 60 and older.
Getting out of the house is not an option—or advisable—for everyone, though. The Washington Post spoke with an infectious-disease doctor who expressed concern over special shopping hours, advising vulnerable populations to have friends or neighbors do the shopping for them.
In Durham, volunteer effort “Durham Neighbor Help” matches volunteers with high-risk people in need of supplies. (It should probably go without saying, but if you do this, wash your hands and, when delivering, leave items at a distance.)
Mutual Aid groups across the Triangle are also organizing to get people the things they need.
Contact deputy arts and culture editor Sarah Edwards at [email protected].
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