Coronavirus: Pak'nSave Gisborne dedicates lane to elderly shoppers

A Pak'nSave supermarket has gone to extra lengths to look after its elderly customers as Kiwis continue to panic buy for coronavirus goods.

Pak'nSave Gisborne this morning announced it how had a dedicated lane for its elderly customers.

"Looking after our customers," it wrote. "We now have a dedicated lane for our elderly customers. We ask that our customers please respect this so they have a safe and easy experience through our store."

The move got huge amounts of support from the supermarket's Facebook page followers with people writing, "Gizzie always was a wonderful store. Good on them putting our elderly first. Hopefully others will follow suit," and "awesome job for our senior citizens hope all supermarket chains do the same. Protect our most vulnerable please".

Another wrote, "I don't think it's getting to the checkout that's the problem for elderly. But getting to the checkout WITH food and necessities".

❤❤Looking after our customers❤❤ We now have a dedicated lane for our elderly customers 💕 We ask that our customers...

Posted by PAK'nSAVE on Tuesday, 17 March 2020

Meanwhile in Australia, supermarket giant Woolworths has introduced a dedicated shopping hour for the elderly and people with disabilities, prompted by the "unprecedented demand" for groceries during the coronavirus pandemic.

The initiative will be between 7am and 8am from Tuesday, March 17 until at least Friday, "exclusively" for people with a government-issued concession card.

"The move has been prompted by the unprecedented demand in supermarkets over the past week, which has seen many elderly and vulnerable people in the community missing out on vital items they may need when they shop," Woolworths said in a statement.

In New Zealand, Countdown's general manager for health and safety has told NZME that there are no plans to offer the same service in NZ.

Kiri Hannifin told NZME that there was no need for such a service and customers should shop as they normally would, but they would be monitoring the situation in the days and weeks ahead.