SAN DIEGO — California Governor Gavin Newsom made the most aggressive move so far in the fight to stop the spread of coronavirus. About 40 million people in the state of California were told to stay home and go outside only for essential jobs and errands like grocery shopping.
On Friday, March 20, Ralphs announced new store hours from 7:00 a.m. to 7:30 a.m daily at all locations, solely for the shopping needs of senior citizens, a group most vulnerable to the COVID-19 coronavirus, until further notice. Ralphs says they encourage and appreciate customers allowing senior citizens to move to the front of the line throughout the day.
For all other customers, temporary store hours will begin 30 minutes earlier with temporary store hours of 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. until further notice.
In support of social distancing and to ensure customer and store associates’ safety, Ralphs says they will allow 50 customer households from the general public in the store at 7:30 a.m. and then an additional 25 customer households every 10 minutes thereafter.
“Ralphs wants to provide these at-risk customers with the ability to purchase the items they need to avoid busier and more crowded shopping times,” said John Votava, Director, Corporate Affairs at Ralphs. “We request that customers respect this change for the health of our community during this time of uncertainty. We appreciate all of our customers for their kind consideration, whose concern contributed to our decision to provide allocated hours for seniors.”
Ralphs reminds all customers to respect product purchase limits – take what you need and leave some for your neighbor.