Grocery chains warn against postponing Easter shopping.
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(The online newspaper) – From experience, this is a busy week, and in many stores, Wednesday before Maundy Thursday and Easter Eve are some of the busiest days during the year, says Kristine Aakvaag Arvin, communications manager at Kiwi to The online newspaper.
This is also the case at Coop Norway.
– Normally the whole week is busy, but now nothing is normal anymore. But we are prepared for a lot of traffic, especially on Easter evening, he says.
Hope people avoid wholesale
Both Kiwi and Coop are prepared for high pressure in the stores – both Wednesday night and Saturday, but have a clear message for their customers:
– We encourage you to shop early in the week, and then you can rather buy fresh bread and possibly other small things on Easter evening when needed, says Arvin, and reminds that most items are durable over Easter.
At the same time, the chain hopes that most people shop alone, as long as it is practically possible for families.
– We see that more people have become better at planning the action, and we hope they do it now as well. We still understand that not everyone can buy everything with them before they go to the mountains, and that they have to buy something on Saturday, says Kristiansen.
Calle Hägg, PR and communications manager at Rema 1000, says that people over the past year have been good at following the call to spread the action.
– We have every faith that we will achieve this again this year, and we encourage customers to shop already now if they can, he says about Easter.
Reduced opening hours
There are shorter opening hours on Easter evening, something everyone should be aware of – especially in the middle of a pandemic with reduced capacity in the shops.
– Every year, it comes a little abruptly for many that the shops close at 4 pm on Easter evening. There is therefore often high pressure on the cramped Easter day, says Arvin.
In addition, beer sales close early Wednesday, something many also seem to forget every year.
Coop and Rema’s stores also close earlier than usual on Easter evening. Kristiansen in Coop says that it varies from municipality to municipality.
Rema 1000 states that most stores close at 4 pm on Saturday, but this varies, depending on whether the store is located in a shopping center or not.
Inserts customer hosts
All stores have a maximum limit for how many people can be in the store at the same time, so it will not be full, but you can quickly reach the maximum number.
However, both Coop and Kiwi have customer hosts they can deploy when needed to regulate the number of customers in and out of the store.
Rema 1000 will also add customer hosts if needed.
– In several places, enough people will meet a nice employee in Rema clothes, who asks you to wait a few minutes before you go in, says Hägg.
However, this is what customers are used to now, and has not presented any problems so far.
– As long as everyone continues to keep their distance, spread the trade, start early and take care of each other, our customers will get a good and safe Easter trade with low prices, he says.
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