Woolworths has announced major changes to its national trading hours and the way it operates its deli, seafood and meat departments.
The supermarket giant has confirmed to 7NEWS.com.au that store opening and closing hours will be adjusted to make them more consistent across Australia.
Learn more about the major Woolworths changes in the video above
For more Food related news and videos check out Food >>
This means selected stores will open an hour later or close an hour earlier to align with stores in other states (see full details below).
In addition to this, Woolworths has shortened the trading hours of its fresh service counters.
From August 1, the supermarket’s deli, meat and seafood department will close at either 7pm or 8pm – regardless of the store’s trading hours (see full details below).
A Woolworths spokesperson said that changes were made after careful consideration.
“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,” the spokesperson told 7NEWS.com.au.
“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 standardize 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.
“We’ll closely monitor customer and team member feedback over the next few months.”
New fresh service trading hours
From August 1, Woolworths deli, seafood and meat counters will have the following trading hours:
- The fresh service deli will trade from 7am to 8pm (7 days).
- The seafood and meat counters will trade from 9:30am to 7pm (weekdays) and 9am to 7pm (weekends).
- 7NEWS.com.au understands that only a handful of stores will operate longer fresh service counter hours as there’s still high customer demand in those stores.
- In-store signage has been placed at the fresh service counters and at the front of stores to inform customers of the altered trading hours.
- It’s understood the new initiative was trialled in a handful of NSW stores in May 2022.
New store trading hours
Woolworths has announced the following changes to trading hours.
- Select stores across Australia will open one hour later or close one hour earlier to align with other stores across the Woolworths network.
- 7NEWS.com.au understands that the change means that if your local store typically opens at 6am, it will now open at 7am. And instead of closing at 10pm, it will now close at 9pm.
- The change means that if a customer travels from state to state, trading hours will be roughly the same across the country.
- Customers are encouraged to head here to see how the trading hours of their local Woolworths store have been affected by the change.
- At the front of each Woolworths, signage will notify customers of the store’s new trading hours.
News of the change to Woolworths deli, meat and seafood trading hours has already attracted mixed reviews on social media.
One Woolies customer criticized the decision, saying all of the supermarket’s services should be available during opening hours.
“If Woolworths proceeds to limit services within their stores from 7pm onwards, we will no longer be using their services,” said the Adelaide-based customer.
“Shoppers need to remember that Woolworths openly asked and endorsed extended grocery store trading hours for 9pm.
“Now that they have these they don’t want to provide you with that service.”
Mixed reviews
He added: “As someone who works irregular hours, I typically do my shopping after 8pm at night – and now I can no longer get access to the service deli.”
But many other Facebook users felt it was a good move for Woolworths employees.
“It makes absolutely no sense to keep the deli open until the store closes given how long it takes to clean,” said one.
Added suggested “they have made this decision because the sales in the last hour just aren’t there”.
“They are running a business not a public service.”
.