Woolworths turns NSW supermarkets into online delivery hubs

Woolworths has converted two Western Sydney supermarkets into online delivery hubs in an effort to keep up with demand for home deliveries as lockdown continues in Greater Sydney.

The supermarket giant will close its Cecil Hills store from Friday 10pm and only serve online grocery delivery customers until further notice.

Woolworths’ Fairfield store made the switch to offering purely home drop offs on Wednesday night.

While both stores already had home delivery options the temporary measure is said to allow Woolworths staff to dispatch thousands more online orders now the shop is shut to walk-in customers.

Woolworths stated the two stores were selected based on proximity to other alternatives within a five kilometre range.

All staff are expected to stay on board and assist with online grocery demands during the change.

Meanwhile, Woolworths has begun searching for more than 200 new roles related to home delivery and direct to boot services.

Woolworths operations manager for Western Sydney Ian Roper said online delivery demands in areas such as Western Sydney continues to grow as customers self-isolate or limit outings.

“This week we’ll be converting two of our stores to online delivery hubs to offer thousands more delivery windows in support of vulnerable members of the community in Western Sydney who aren't able to shop in store," Roper said. 

“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 Sydney, and this will provide extra delivery capacity where it’s most needed to support the essential grocery needs of many more customers online.”

Woolworths took similar measures last year across various stores in Sydney and Melbourne to meet government Covid-19 restrictions at the time.