Central England Co-op rolls out its next phase of social distancing measures

Posted by rob smyth | Published: 02/06/2020


Central England Co-op has outlined the second phase of social distancing measures aimed at keeping colleagues, customers and members safe in its stores.

The new features will include permanent hand sanitiser stations at the front of all stores and a one-way system being put in place permanently with the help of signage and the reformatting of shops.
These new measures will sit alongside a raft of others already in place including over 1,000 plastic screens at till points and 7,000 face visors issued to staff.

The retailer is now asking customers to help its colleagues and their fellow customers by adhering to all of the social distancing guidelines in place to keep everyone safe and healthy during these uncertain times.

Debbie Robinson, Central England Co-op Chief Executive, said: “Nothing is more important to us all at Central England Cooperative than the safety of our colleagues and customers.

“We’re closely following Government advice in our approach to social distancing and have now rolled out a range of new measures for our stores to sit alongside what we already have in place.

“We now ask all of our customers to co-operate with these measures to keep us all safe and allow us to continue to serve our communities.”

Measures already in place include:

  • Stores using every other till point or checkout to keep customers and colleagues a safe distance apart
  • Special markings installed in front of till points and checkouts of at least one metre. If a customer needs to enter this area to place down a basket or use the keypad, colleagues move backwards to maintain a safe distance
  • Special markings installed to showcase two-metre safe distances while queueing at till points
  • Customers are asked to pay with card or contactless if possible
  • Specialist cleaning products are used to regularly wipe down the countertops and chip and pin machines, ATMs, baskets and trolleys
  • Special markings installed throughout stores to showcase to customers two metre spacing and customers are asked to maintain these distances while shopping
  • Special markings installed outside stores so customers queuing to enter maintain safe distances of two metres

People can keep up to date with what is happening in their local community by visiting a dedicated online hub at www.centralengland.coop/updates

 

 

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About Central England Co-operative

 

Central England Co-operative is one of the largest independent retail co-operative societies in the UK with interests in food, funeral, floral, travel and property investment.

 

Co-operatives have always been there for their communities; they were formed to protect them and help them flourish. 

 

Our 7,900 colleagues who serve Members and customers work hard to ensure that co-operative values, principles and spirit flow through everything we do to help support and improve our local communities.

 

Owned by hundreds of thousands of Members, we have over 430 trading outlets across 16 counties including West Midlands, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire. 

 

We are proud of our reputation for ethical business practices and corporate responsibility.

 

We invest a percentage of our trading profit into local communities through our Community Dividend Fund scheme, have donated over £1.3 million to our corporate charity partner Dementia UK and also operate a pioneering food redistribution partnership with FareShare Midlands so unsold food goes to those in need.

 

Visit www.centralengland.coop for more information or follow us on Facebook or Twitter using @mycoopfood

 

 

Press office contacts: Rob Smyth and James Brindle

 

Phone - 01543 421390

 

Email - publicrelations@centralengland.coop