Opening times at Peterborough food retailer return to normal after stockpiling crisis

The Central England Co-operative cut its hours in March to give staff time to restock as stores were overwhelmed by anxious shoppers fearful of being without food and essential during the coronavirus lockdown.

Now the retailer, which has more than 240 stores across 16 counties including many in Peterborough, says it will bring back the former opening hours as customers get used to shopping during the uncertain times.

The reduced opening hours saw stores closing at 8pm but they will now return to normal closing hours of either 9pm or 10pm.

Extensive social distancing measures have also been put in place across all stores.

These include gloves and hand sanitiser, more than 1,000 checkout screens, 7,000 face visors for colleagues and more than 150 security guards to help with queues.

Paul Dennis, retail director, said: “We have all had to change the way we shop to keep our colleagues and customers safe and we continue to monitor and update what we are doing in our stores to ensure this remains the case.

“With that in mind we have listened to the feedback of our customers and this is why we are returning the opening hours of our stores to normal.

“Our supply lines have been great during the coronavirus pandemic and our shelves stocked with all the food and essentials our communities need.

“Thank you to our customers for their continued support and also to our hardworking colleagues who continue to go above and beyond.”

Customers can find out up-to-date opening times for their local store by visiting https://stores.centralengland.coop/

To keep up to date with what is happening in your local community visit the dedicated online hub at www.centralengland.coop/updates