Waitrose ‘bans’ couples from its stores

Seeking to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Waitrose, which has supermarkets in Alderley Edge, Wilmslow and Knutsford – has introduced a ‘one customer per household’ policy.

This effectively means couples are barred from the supermarket, however, Waitrose accepts that it will have to relax the rules where invalidity means some couples have to shop together.

It is one of a number of measures the retailer has introduced in the past week to help tackle the virus, including a ‘one in, one out’ policy for when its stores are at capacity.

A spokesman for Waitrose and Partners said: “In line with the Government’s guidance on social distancing we’re asking customers to help us manage the number of people in our shops – by sending only one member of the household to do their shopping, if they possibly can. 

“While this won’t be possible for everybody, we are very grateful for our customers’ support in this difficult situation.”

Bérangère Michel, partner and executive director for customer Service at John Lewis Partnership, said: “The health of our partners and customers has always been our number one priority and we fully support social distancing.”

“While these measures will dramatically change how people shop and interact with others in our stores for the moment – they are absolutely vital to ensure that our customers can shop safely and that our partners are protected as they go above and beyond to serve shoppers in this time of crisis.”

Editor: As couples by definition will already be exposed to each other surely this is a pointless exercise? However, if current practices escalate we’re wondering how long it will be before the police start to take it upon themselves to enforce this countrywide.