Courtesy of the Lake Bonavista Community Association
Navigating different websites is difficult at the best of times. Being able to find and understand available resources during a pandemic should be accessible and easy! Unfortunately, tasks like ordering food, pet food and supplies online are not as easy as they should be. Here is your guide to some of the stores that you shop at around the Lake Bonavista area.
Safeway
Check your local store hours beforehand as regular store hours have changed to accommodate staff and shoppers. Safeway has implemented a Seniors Hour, which is every day of the week from 7:00 to 8:00 am. This hour includes access to those requiring special assistance. Currently, Safeway is reporting store traffic updates and is seeing Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings and Sundays to be quieter, but do check the website for the most recent report as it is subject to change.
Co-Op Grocery
Unfortunately, Co-Op does not have a curbside pickup or delivery options currently. I encourage you to keep checking the Co-Op website for the most recent information for each of their locations! Co-Op is making the grocery shopping experience feel very safe; they sanitize the carts and baskets inside before you take one, they also have a hand sanitizer station at the doors to use. They are very on top of the maximum capacity of the store and do regular headcounts, plexiglass has been installed in front of the cashiers at check out, and they have placed tape around the store demonstrating safe distancing. They, too, are providing Senior hours to accommodate venerable citizens: the first hour of the day. Please check the store hours before shopping, as different locations may have different operating hours. Co-Op is certainly not the only grocer taking and implementing these safety procedures and precautions, but they are taking measures to make the grocery shopping experience feels safe and controlled.
No Frills
No Frills website is easy to navigate through, they have the curbside pickup option called Grocery Store Pickup. Like Safeway, you will need to create an account and select your location before checking out. The nice thing about No Frills is you can see and select the exact Pickup time on a schedule layout. Currently, they are also offering pick up times a week out. Make sure that you are purchasing enough food to last two weeks and ordering your food a week before you need it! If No Frills is your grocer of choice, visit www.nofrills.ca for all of your store and pick up information!
Walmart Supercenter
As one would suspect from a large company, Walmart’s website is very user friendly. You can shop around and find all of your supplies and groceries easily. Walmart Supercentres provide supplies and food delivery and pickup, simply type www.walmart.ca into the search bar, and at the top righthand side of the page, there is a little green grocery cart with “Shop Grocery” beside it. From there, you can shop by food category and add the items into your cart. When you go to check out, you can select whether you would like delivery or pickup. Depending on where you live, Walmart might not be able to deliver to your house, but pickup is running with slots for the next day available! With an easy to see map, you can choose the Walmart location where you would like to pick the groceries up from, and at what time and day. They do not require you to create an account or log in to one. You can simply enter your name and number, pay for your groceries online with no account needed and pick up at your scheduled time!
Shoppers Drug Mart
Shoppers is not a place to grab all your groceries, but they do provide some extra services outside of food! Online prescription refills and access to doctors online are just a couple of the services provided to citizens during this time. For those services, you will need to create an account online and may need to visit your location to have your initial prescriptions processed, but after that, you should be able to order your prescriptions online and pick them up in-store with little hassle! Shoppers Drug Mart has seniors, and those requiring special assistance, shopping hours daily from 8:00 am to 9:00 am. Visit www.shoppersdrugmart.ca for all store information.
If none of these grocers have the pet food that your animal enjoys, there are tons of ways to order food online, either through PetSmart or Canadian Tire online. They have easy to navigate and user-friendly websites and they deliver right to your door!
Finding resources can be difficult, especially at a time when we need them and need to understand them. Hopefully, these procedures with each store will help you choose a store and an ideal shopping experience. Do not forget that you can always call these stores; they are more than willing to help talk you through it over the phone. Take care and stay safe!
