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NEWS THREE WOOLIES STORES CONVERT TO ONLINE DELIVERY HUBS Earlier this month, Woolworths converted its Dandenong Plaza, Watergardens South, and Mountain Gate supermarkets in the Melbourne area into online delivery hubs as the city entered stage 4 pandemic restrictions. The three stores closed to in-store customers from Tuesday 4 August at 7.30pm to solely serve online grocery delivery customers until further notice. At the time of closure, Woolworths said the conversions would enable the business to pick and dispatch tens of thousands more weekly online orders to customers in the surrounding suburbs. This includes online orders for the most vulnerable in the community through Woolworths’ Priority Assistance service. During March and April, Woolworths undertook similar conversions in a small number of stores in Sydney and Melbourne to meet online demand and service customers staying at home in line with government restrictions during the early stages of the pandemic. The three current stores were “carefully picked” to minimise the impact on local shoppers and have the following alternative stores within five kilometres: • Dandenong Plaza: Dandenong South and Endeavour Hills. • Watergardens South: Watergardens, Watervale and Taylors Lakes. • Mountain Gate: Ferntree Gully, Scoresby and Boronia. All team members in the three stores are said to have been retained to either pick online orders or work in neighbouring stores. WOOLWORTHS SUPPORTS WOMEN HIT BY PERIOD POVERTY Woolworths and Share the Dignity are partnering in a Dignity Drive this month, providing essential support to the growing number of Australian women experiencing ‘period poverty’ as a result of COVID-19. The impact of the pandemic, says the retailer, has meant that even more women are having to make the choice between buying food or sanitary items. The Dignity Drive is running across all Woolworths supermarkets and Metro stores nationally, giving customers the opportunity to donate sanitary items via collection boxes. These will then be distributed to girls and women who can’t afford to buy sanitary items. In addition, Woolworths is donating five cents from the sale of pads, tampons and liners this month to Share the Dignity, to help the charity fund more vending machines that dispense free sanitary items to women experiencing homelessness, fleeing domestic violence, or facing difficult circumstances. Woolworths has partnered with Share the Dignity since early 2019 and has so far raised in partnership with customers more than $1.3 million for the charity. Funds raised are being used for the installation of 80 dignity vending machines across Australia. The current Dignity Drive will be third the retailer has supported. The latest one, in March, is said to have collected more than 43,000 sanitary items for women in need. “Now more than ever the charity needs our support to meet the needs of the growing number of Australian women experiencing period poverty,” Woolworths Supermarkets Managing Director Claire Peters said. “We’ll be donating five cents from the sale of every sanitary item to Share the Dignity, and for those customers in a position to help, we’re encouraging them to donate sanitary items at the collection box in their local Woolworths store. This small act of kindness will go a long way to helping thousands of women in need.” 10 RETAIL WORLD AUG, 2020