Supermarket giant Woolworths has announced major changes to its trading hours for stores across Australia.
The powers that be at the fresh food people are changing opening and closing hours to make them more consistent across the country.
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This means your local Woolies could end up opening an hour later or closing an hour earlier.
Stores normally opening at 6am will now open at 7am. If your local store previously closed at 10pm it will now close at 9pm.
Woolworths have erected signage in their stores to warn customers about the changes but if you’re unsure how it will affect your local supermarket you can check online here.
Trading hours for deli, meat and seafood departments are also changing from this week. All counters will close either from 7pm or 8pm regardless of the store’s trading hours.
The fresh service deli will open from 7am to 8pm, while seafood and meat counters will operate from 9.30am to 7pm on weekdays and 9am to 7pm on weekends.
Woolworths says the changes are designed to bring stores in line with changing shopping behaviour but if you’re worried about not getting to the deli in time there are other options.
“Customers can still purchase similar products, such as chicken breast fillets and salmon, within our packed Fresh Convenience range located in-store,” a spokesperson told 7NEWS.
“We’ve also moved to standardise our overall operating hours so we can offer a consistent customer experience across our store network.”
The changes have had mixed responses among customers. One South Australian customer vented their frustration about the changes online.
“As someone who works irregular hours, I typically do my shopping after 8pm at night – and now I can no longer get access to the service deli,” they wrote.
“If Woolworths proceeds to limit services within their stores from 7pm onwards, we will no longer be using their services.”
However, others were more understanding.
“It makes absolutely no sense to keep the deli open until the store closes given how long it takes to clean,” replied one customer.
“They have made this decision because the sales in the last hour just aren’t there. They are running a business, not a public service,” said another.
Check the Woolworths website to see how the changes affect you.
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