Sainsbury's lockdown rules
Lifestyle

Lockdown: Sainsbury’s announces new rules that ‘ban’ couples and families from shopping together

It's all change from tomorrow thanks to lockdown 2.0

Sainsbury’s has issued new rules with the second lockdown approaching.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has closed all non-essential shops from tomorrow (November 5).

However, supermarkets will stay open – but with a new set of rules.

Things will be different at all of the big supermarkets, including Sainsbury’s.

Sainsbury's store front
New lockdown shopping rules are in place at Sainsbury’s (Credit: Sainsbury’s)

What are the new lockdown rules at Sainsbury’s?

Sainsbury’s CEO Simon Roberts has essentially put a ban on couples and families shopping together.

In a statement on the website, he laid out the store’s new rules.

Read more: Full list of shops that are staying open as England goes into second lockdown

He said: “Where possible, we ask that you only send one adult per household when you shop with us.”

Where possible, we ask that you only send one adult per household when you shop with us.

Roberts added: “This will help us manage the number of people in our stores and make your shop quicker and smoother.”

This means couples will not be able to shop together and families should only enter stores together if children are not able to stay at home.

A woman shopping for toilet roll in Sainsbury's
People have already started stocking up on essentials like toilet roll (Credit: Splash News)

Support for elderly shoppers during winter

The supermarket also has a number of other changes in place, recognising that elderly and vulnerable customers will find it difficult to queue outside the store in winter.

“From Thursday, we will offer elderly and vulnerable customers and NHS and care workers with an NHS ID priority access to our stores.

“This means you can skip the queue at any time so that we can welcome you into our stores quickly and safely,” he said, adding that Sainsbury’s will once again have a socially distanced queuing system in place outside stores.

Read more: M&S launches Percy Pig Swiss Roll and it looks delicious 

The supermarket has also increased the number of online orders it can carry out, with 750,000 weekly slots available for home delivery and click and collect.

Online order slots for the core Christmas period – December 20 to 23 – go on general release on November 29, he said.

What are the other supermarkets doing differently?

Other supermarkets are also introducing new rules.

Tesco has announced a traffic light system at its bigger stores to manage the number of customers in the shop at any one time.

If it’s raining, Tesco will hand out umbrellas to those waiting in queues outside.

Empty shelves in Sainsbury's back in March
Supermarkets are keen to avoid a repeat of stockpiling that took place earlier this year (Credit: Splash News)

Safety marshals and protective screens

Meanwhile, Asda will have 1,000 new safety marshals at the front of every store and patrolling the aisles of larger stores.

Aldi has protective screens at all 7,000 of its checkouts, while shoppers are being encouraged to pay using contactless.

It will also continue its NHS hour service.

Lidl has a “crowd control” system in place in stores and it’s made changes to the in-store bakery.

As well as using tongs, disposable gloves will also be provided so shoppers can bag loose items.

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Nancy Brown
Associate Editor