Michaela Meade
Woolworths stores in the northern suburbs have been faced with staffing shortages as a result of COVID-19 exposure.
The supermarket giant had over 1000 Victorian employees isolating as of Wednesday, September 29.
Over the Grand Final weekend, four out of 13 Woolworths supermarkets in the north were identified as tier one exposure sites, forcing the retailer to limit trading hours and services available for impacted stores.
A Woolworths spokesperson said the flow-on effects of stores being exposure sites were felt by staff and customers.
“A large number of our team members have had to isolate and follow health advice [and] as a consequence, some of our stores haven’t had enough team members to operate our normal trading hours or in-store offerings,” the spokesperson said.
“We understand this is frustrating and regret the impact it’s had on our customers.
“We’re working very closely with the Victorian government to see if we can find ways to safely maintain our team member availability when stores are listed as exposure sites.”
Epping Woolworths on High Street was listed as a tier two exposure site last week.
Meanwhile, Woolworths stores at Craigieburn Plaza, Craigieburn Central, Highlands Shopping Centre and Greenvale Lakes have all been listed as exposure sites over the past fortnight, although have since been cleared.
Woolworths have had more than 25,000 team members over the past three months required to isolate.
Trading hours of local stores is available: www.woolworths.com.au/shop/storelocator
