Stop & Shop Debuts Grocery Lockers in Boston

Stop & Shop customers who want to skip the in-store shopping and stopping have a new grocery pickup option at the chain's outpost in Boston.

Stop & Shop announced the debut of temperature-controlled lockers for pickup of online grocery orders at the Boston store, located at 1620 Tremont St. Customers who choose the locker pickup option when placing their online order will receive a text message within 15 minutes of their selected pickup time that contains a code they can scan at an in-store locker kiosk. Their designated locker will then open automatically, and customers can retrieve their bagged groceries. Alcohol and other age-restricted items are not available for pickup from the lockers.

The lockers are located in the store's main entrance and are available in three temperature settings: refrigerated, frozen and ambient, according to a Stop & Shop news release. Locker temperatures are remotely monitored, and individual lockers are cleaned and sanitized between orders. There is a fee of $2.95 per locker pickup order; Stop & Shop is offering customers $10 off and 90 days of free pickup to try the service. 

"The Locker Pickup program is another way we’re working to accelerate our e-commerce offerings so that our customers can shop for and pick up their groceries at a time that’s most convenient for their schedule," said Stacy Wiggins, company VP of e-commerce operations, in the release. "We hope that by eliminating the need to wait in line or go in-store, they’ll get even more time back into their day."

Grocery lockers offer a convenient pickup option at Stop & Shop stores, where many customers arrive by foot or on bike, the company stated in the release. 

Quincy, Mass.-based Stop & Shop, an Ahold Delhaize company, operates 412 stores in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, according to the grocer's website. Its largest footprint is in Massachusetts, where it has 128 locations.