Plan Ahead for Winter Food Shopping

There are constantly very long queues outside food shops /supermarkets, which is fine at the moment as the weather has been fairly kind. As social distancing is likely to go on into the winter months start to work with shops now to plan ahead for example:

Provision of temporary structures to keep those waiting in queues outside dry

Shopping in a different way. eg having generic ready made boxes of fruit and veg / cupboard basics / basic butcher meat etc to grab, pay and go at supermarkets so people don’t have to wander around and select, they just pick the size and style of box they need. Delivery and click and collect slots are very limited, this could be another type of quick shop to reduce queues in the pouring rain.

Work with smaller shops to help them to expand what they provide to include more fresh foods so people can buy very locally.

Make it easy to have pop up food shops in local areas

Provide unused space (most authorities have lots of empty retail units) for indoor farmers markets in the winter months

Make it easy for small producers to sell direct or provide doorstep delivery.

There will be other possibilities.

Social distancing in the Scottish winter weather with the long queues outside shops will be both unpleasant and unhealthy. Planning now and working with shops and supermarkets to mitigate some of the issues would be prudent.

Providing the means for more local shopping would reduce use of public transport and exposure to other people.

Potentially assist SMEs.