Wegmans Offers Tips for a Safe and Healthy Holiday

'Tis the season of touchless shopping at Wegmans. In addition to its in-store safety measures, the Rochester, N.Y.-based grocer is also promoting its new Wegmans SCAN app, which allows customers to scan and bag their groceries as they shop. When customers complete their shopping, they proceed to the self-checkout register, scan the on-screen barcode to bring up their order, pay and go.

Wegmans currently offers the SCAN App in multiple stores in seven states, and says it plans to continue to expand the program.

“While many are considering new, safe ways to celebrate the season with friends and family, at Wegmans, we’re focused on keeping our employees and customers safe during this busy time of year at our stores,” the Wegmans website reads. “During the last eight months, we’ve learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t. You will continue to see many of the safety measures we rolled out in the spring, as well as some new ones.”

What’s working for Wegmans? Dedicated cleaning teams who are responsible for the increased sanitation of high-contact touchpoints throughout store, as well as increased frequency of its everyday sanitation practices. Shopping carts are also sanitized regularly throughout the day.

Wegmans has said it will also continue to operate its stores “well below” capacity limits. During peak shopping hours, the grocer employs people counters to ensure social distancing and reduced capacity. Its store leaders are encouraged to close the doors and control the flow of people into the store if needed. And its Market Cafe areas (where seating is allowed) will continue to limit the number of diners at one time.

In addition to new industry standards, including hand sanitizer stations, regular cleaning and sanitizing of registers and belts, regular handwashing and wellness check requirements for employees, social distancing indicators throughout the store and plexiglass shields at service areas, Wegmans is installing live outdoor cameras at its highest-traffic stores, so customers can visit the stores’ websites to see how busy they are before making a trip to the store.

Wegmans also invites shoppers to use its pickup and delivery for groceries and meals this holiday season through Wegmans.com or the Wegmans app. All locations offer online ordering with the option of curbside grocery pickup or home delivery.

“We encourage customers to continue taking advantage of these services during the holiday season,” the company said. “As more customers turned to online grocery shopping during the pandemic, we rolled out a new program with Instacart that has Wegmans employees shopping customers’ curbside orders using Instacart’s technology.” Meanwhile, Instacart shoppers continue to shop delivery orders, which allows more customer orders to be fulfilled on any given day, Wegmans said.

Wegmans’ Helpful Holiday Hints for Shoppers:

1. Plan ahead. The two to three days leading up to a holiday tend to be the busiest for Wegmans. The grocer encourages shoppers to break up holiday shopping into two trips—one well in advance for pantry staples, and the other closer to the holiday for fresh items.

2. Shop alone or in small groups. Wegmans is committed to running its stores well below capacity limits, so it asks customers to shop in small groups to allow for social distancing.

3. Place online orders in advance. Online grocery orders through Wegmans.com or the Wegmans app can be placed up to seven days in advance.

4. Order Thanksgiving meals early. The deadline to place Thanksgiving orders is noon on Nov. 24 (while supplies last). Meals are available for pickup Nov. 21-26, except in Massachusetts, where orders must be picked up by Nov. 25.