COVID-19: Essential Shopping/Retail (Supermarkets, Food, Jigsaws etc)

5 Myer stores are opening again from Friday in Queensland. Several other large chains stores are now open or due to open this week. Open house inspections can also now occur with up to 6 people in the house.

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Percentage of shops that will be open this week at various shopping centres in SEQ

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Uniqlo reopened on Monday this week, followed by Zara yesterday. H&M is expected to reopen this Saturday.

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Coles have announced that all buying restrictions will be lifted from tomorrow.

https://www.9news.com.au/national/coronavirus-australia-coles-purchase-restrictions-lifted-after-panic-buying/52655bd8-b0b1-497d-b239-4497028aaf42

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ABC only media company in top 10

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On the flipside, Facebook and AMP were revealed as the most distrusted brands in Australia during April 2020.

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A bit worrying that many Australians put so much of their trust into companies which before the pandemic, were being shamed for underpaying their staff. I mean, Woolworths at #2?!

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I wouldn’t trust a survey that places a brand that
only operates in one state (NRMA) at #5!

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NRMA operates in Queensland too

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And the ACT.

The NRMA one is interesting because Insurance Australia Group (IAG) trade as NRMA Insurance (as well as SGIO, SGIC, Swann, CGU, Coles Insurance, etc.) and own NRMA Motorserve car servicing centres; I wonder how much of the ‘trusted brand’ is for those (and I’ve heard plenty of complaints about IAG), versus the National Roads & Motorists’ Association (real NRMA) who license their brand to IAG.

PS: And of course it’s not clear how many survey calls were answered in which states/territories.

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The Beyond Q Bookstore at Weston Creek in Canberra is closing on Friday. A combination of problems with the landlord, the summer bushfire smoke keeping customers away and the COVID-19 closure means the business is now unsustainable, so it’s shutting down just after it has reopened.

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I had money on that one sticking around permanently

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Me too, when I shop for my dad I always buy new bags and they’ve packed them before today.

Herald Sun reports Melbourne shopping centres owned by Vicinity, including Chadstone, Box Hill Central and The Glen, are among the first shopping centres in Australia to introduce heat mapping technology which can instantaneously monitor foot traffic to ensure customers are safely carrying out social distancing. Using Wi-Fi data from customers’ mobile phones, the shopping centres are now able to detect foot traffic numbers and flow in real time.
When I went to The Glen on Tuesday evening for last minute shopping I noticed there were six protective service officers chatting among themselves. I think the PSOs are there to enforce social distancing during the day.

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Some supermarkets can handle the social distancing measures better than others. Went to the Eastland Woolies today… human traffic jam(s) galore in that store. The aisles themselves were ok. But people were unable to keep their distance from one another (certainly a lot closer than 1.5m) along the main walkway/pathways.

I’ve noticed that some of the suburban Coles/Woolies have cut back on some of the social distancing measures. The Coles door greeter (and exit good-bye…er at the other end lol) are no longer standing at either of the Coles entry/exit points. So I assume that Coles is saving money in not doing it any more (but yet how are they going to count the customer numbers appropriately ?).

Woolworths are now allowing every self check-out to be used (due to the perspex screens being installed on them… I am not a medical professional, but I see them as being more “for show” rather than totally preventing a person breathing in another person’s germs!).

I visited a Footlocker store, it’s apparently now a condition of entry to get sprayed with hand sanitizer as you enter the store. It’s fair enough I guess, but you don’t need to cake one’s hands full of it… one squirt/dab is more than enough thank you!

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The self serve checkouts at Woolworths at The Glen now have perspex screens installed, however every second checkout is still closed for social distancing.

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They’ve just been installed at Coles too at East Village in Zetland. They’ve now reopened all the self serve checkouts.

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The Australian is reporting that there has been panic buying at supermarkets in the COVID-19 hotspots in Melbourne, with toilet paper again flying off the shelves.

And an observation on Twitter.

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You have got to be kidding me right?
There are some absolute idiots out there.

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You’d think after 4 months people would realise that even if LGA’s go on lockdown, that supermarkets aren’t going to close up shop…

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Sadly, Coles and Woolworths had reintroduced item limits on certain categories across Victoria, in response to panic buying.

Woolworths confirmed a purchase limit of two items on toilet paper, hand sanitiser, paper towel, flour, sugar, pasta, mince, UHT milk, eggs and rice had been reinstated due to a “recent demand surge”.

While Coles revealed product restrictions had been re-introduced on similar grocery items, including limits of just one packet of toilet paper and paper towel.

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