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16th Mar 2020

Lidl to introduce priority shopping hours for elderly and vulnerable people

Dave Hanratty

A great move.

Lidl Ireland is set to introduce dedicated priority shopping hours for older and vulnerable customers from Tuesday, 17 March.

The move comes in response to a wave of public feedback calling for such a designation following scenes of panic-buying that met Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s closure of schools, colleges and public facilities last week.

On Sunday, the government issued a directive to all pubs in Ireland to close in a bid to combat the spread of Covid-19.

Despite assurances that shops will remain fully stocked in the coming months, there is concern amongst the public, particularly for the more vulnerable members of society.

“We’ve been listening to your feedback and we will be implementing priority shopping hours for the elderly across all 163 Lidl stores in Ireland, 9 – 11am every day, until further notice,” noted a Lidl Ireland statement issued on Monday.

“We ask that the public respect this time period to allow more vulnerable customers to pick up the food and supplies they need. Starting 17 March, the mornings will run from 9 – 11am every day and will include prioritised queuing and additional assistance for our older customers.

“We may not be able to actively monitor this at all times as our store teams are required on checkouts and restocking shelves, so we kindly ask that customers respect this measure and plan their shopping trips around this timeframe.”