Woolworths has announced major changes to its trading hours across all stores, including reduced operating hours of its deli, seafood, and meat counters.
The supermarket giant said its stores’ opening and closing hours will be adjusted to make them more consistent across the retailer network. This means selected stores will open an hour later or close an hour earlier to align with stores in other states and territories.
From August 1, Woolworths will also reduce the trading hours of its fresh service counters. The change will see the supermarket’s deli departments close at either 7pm or 8pm, regardless of the store’s trading hours. The supermarket confirmed hot roast chickens will still be available while stores are open.
News of the changes has attracted mixed reviews online. Some shoppers argue fresh service counters should available all day until stores close. Others said it makes no sense to keep deli counters open late given how long it takes to clean and considering limited sales in the last hour.
A Woolworths spokesperson said: “We’ve made a change to the trading hours of our fresh service counters nationwide, due to a shift in customer shopping behaviour. This includes our meat, seafood, and deli counters.”
“Customers can still purchase similar products, such as chicken breast fillets and salmon, within our packed Fresh Convenience range located in-store.
“We’ve also moved to standardise our overall operating hours so we can offer a consistent customer experience across our store network.
“Select stores across the country will open one hour later or close one hour earlier to align with other stores and better match customer shopping patterns.”
The supermarket said it will closely monitor customer and team member feedback over the next few months to assess the impact of the changes.
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Woolworths changes trading hours
- Select Woolworths stores that typically open at 6am, could now open at 7am, and close at 9pm instead of 10pm.
- Trading hours will be roughly the same across the country which could benefit customers who travel interstate, although shift workers and those who work irregular hours may not see the change as a positive.
- Customers are encouraged to check online to see if their local Woolworths store has been affected by the change.
Woolworths changes fresh service operating hours
- From August 1, the fresh service deli will trade from 7am to 8pm (Monday to Sunday).
- Seafood and meat counters will trade from 9:30am to 7pm (weekdays) and 9am to 7pm (weekends).
- Select stores will operate longer fresh service counter hours if there’s high customer demand for extended trading.
- Signage will be displayed to inform shoppers of the change in operating hours for those services.
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