Woolworths will temporarily convert its Watergardens South supermarket into an online delivery hub as Melbourne enters stage 4 COVID-19 restrictions.
The store was closed to in-store customers last Tuesday and will now solely serve online grocery delivery customers until further notice.
Woolworths says the conversion of the store and two others located at Dandenong Plaza and Mountain Gate will enable it to pick and dispatch tens of thousands more weekly online orders to customers in the surrounding suburbs.
This includes online orders for the most vulnerable in the community through Woolworths’ priority assistance service.
During March and April Woolworths undertook similar conversions in a small number of stores in Sydney and Melbourne to meet online demand and service customers staying at home in line with government restrictions during the early stages of the pandemic.
Woolworths Supermarkets Victorian general manager Andrew Hall said the move was made to meet demand for online delivery, which continues to grow at pace.
“We understand this will be inconvenient for some of our in-store customers and have sought to minimise this as much as we can by converting stores in close proximity to others.
“It’s an uncertain time for many in Melbourne and this will ensure we have the delivery capacity to support the essential grocery needs of many more customers online.”
Woolworths’ online orders will continue to be fulfilled out of the dedicated customer fulfilment centre in West Footscray and across over 150 supermarkets in Victoria.
