Tesco is expected to announce all its 24-hour stores will from tonight reduce their hours to open between 6am and 10pm as it copes with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
Bosses at the UK’s biggest supermarket have decided to close all 24-hour stores at 10pm, reopening at 6am on Wednesday morning.
They will continue to open between 6am and 10pm for the immediate future, it is understood.
Staff in stores were informed on Tuesday afternoon and it was not immediately clear whether those who will see shifts cut will also see a cut in pay during the uncertain times.
Supermarkets have been inundated by shoppers causing shortages in certain key items such as pasta and toilet roll, despite government advice saying people should not panic buy.
Tesco is expected to announce all its 24-hour stores will from tonight reduce their hours to open between 6am and 10pm
Details are being updated online with new store opening times, and it is believed some larger 24-hour stores that have pharmacies will remain open beyond 10pm.
The decision comes as the Government announced a business rates holiday for all retailers and the leisure industry.
Earlier on Tuesday, Morrisons revealed a series of packages to protect staff and announce an expansion of its online operations – including 3,500 new jobs.
Supermarkets have seen a surge in shoppers stocking up on essentials, and said supply chains are working well. However, there have been reports of abuse aimed at staff.
Earlier today the supermarket chain introduced restrictions to certain items today such as anti-bacterial wipes, dried pasta and toilet roll will be limited to two per customer under the changes, it is understood.
The company also had to remove a food bank trolley from its Hove superstore after a customer reported it had been raided.
Empty shelves inside a Tesco supermarket in Hemel Hempstead taken today. Despite government advice not to, shoppers have been panic buying, leaving shelves empty
A number of stores are now operating at reduced hours due to ‘operational reasons’, Tesco said on Twitter.
It comes as photographs showed supermarket shelves across the UK cleared of food and other essential goods such as toilet roll.
The demand for groceries has also moved online, with customers placed in hour-long queues on Tuesday just to access online supermarket Ocado’s website.
The company said it was experiencing an ‘unusual’ and ‘very high’ demand for its services, resulting in it having to take its mobile app offline temporarily.
Waitrose’s website was also temporarily down on Tuesday afternoon due to a ‘high volume of visitors’.
The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) said its members, which include independent corner shops, Spar and Co-op, were managing to keep up with demand.
Empty shelves in a Tesco Extra in Worthing, West Sussex, the day after Prime Minister Boris Johnson called on people to stay away from pubs, clubs and theatres
ACS’s head of communications Chris Noice said: ‘People are now realising that the place where there is still stock is their local shop.
‘But with more people looking to self-isolate, and supermarkets reaching capacity online, I expect more convenience stores to offer home delivery services.’
He said while some stores already use delivery services such as Deliveroo, ‘more and more’ are now considering using their own vehicles to supply customers.
Despite Tesco tightening its restrictions from five items to two on certain products, the company insisted that stock levels remained ‘good’.
Responding to a customer on Twitter who asked why one of its 24-hour stores was closing at 10pm, the company said a ‘few’ of its supermarkets would be temporarily operating on reduced hours.
Following reports that items were stolen from its Hove store food bank trolley, the company asked customers to provide any further donations to checkout staff.
Supermarket giant Morrisons said it would be creating 3,500 new jobs as it expands its home delivery service to cope with soaring demand.
The chain said it would be recruiting around 2,500 pickers and drivers and about 1,000 people to work in distribution centres.
The move to boost home delivery will see the retailer make more slots available to customers, use another 100 stores for shop picking, set up a call centre for those without access to online shopping and launch a new range of simple-to-order food parcels from March 23.