Woolworths will temporarily convert its Dandenong Plaza supermarket into an online delivery hub as Melbourne enters stage 4 Covid-19 restrictions.
The store will close to in-store customers from Tuesday 4 August at 7:45pm to solely serve online grocery delivery customers until further notice.
According to Woolworths, this will enable the company to pick and dispatch tens of thousands more weekly online orders to customers in the surrounding suburbs, including online orders for the most vulnerable in the community through Woolworths’ Priority Assistance service.
It follows similar store conversions in March and April to meet online demand and service customers staying home in line with government restrictions.
The store has been carefully picked to minimise the impact on local shoppers and ensure there are alternatives within five kilometres.
For Dandenong Plaza shoppers, this means they can instead visit the Dandenong South or Endeavour Hills stores to do their grocery shopping within the government’s limits.
There is no impact on jobs at the store, with all team members retained to either pick online orders or work in neighbouring stores.
“The demand for online delivery continues to grow at pace with more customers in self-isolation or seeking to limit their outings,” Woolworths Supermarkets Victorian general manager Andrew Hall said.
“We understand this will be inconvenient for some of our in-store customers and have sought to minimise this as much as we can by converting stores in close proximity to others.
“It’s an uncertain time for many in Melbourne and this will ensure we have the delivery capacity to support the essential grocery needs of many more customers online.”
Woolworths introduced Priority Assistance home deliveries earlier this year to help the elderly, people with disability and those in mandatory isolation.
To apply for Priority Assistance delivery, customers need to complete the form at woolworths.com.au/priorityassistance or call 1800 000 610 to find out more.
