REGINA -- A local woman is raising concerns about senior shopping hours at a Regina grocery store.
Mary Hildebrand called the Safeway at Northgate Mall on Friday to ask if the grocery store was going to be implementing exclusive hours for seniors to shop, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Hildebrand says she spoke with a manager, who confirmed that from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. every morning except Sundays, there would be a “golden hour” intended just for seniors.
However, when Hildebrand went to the Safeway in Regina’s north end on Saturday morning at 7:15 a.m., she says that it wasn’t just seniors shopping.
“There were teenagers, or young people and then there were young moms and dads and maybe two other seniors.”
Hildebrand says she was shocked. After she collected her groceries, she brought the issue up with her cashier, who she says told her “we don’t want to discourage any of the other people because of discrimination.”
According to Hildebrand, the Safeway didn’t have a sign up indicating that the first hour of the day was reserved for seniors to shop.
However on Tuesday, the same Safeway had a poster displayed at the entrance announcing the ‘Seniors Shopping Hour’. It stated “for our neighbours who need to get out for essential supplies, let’s make shopping a little easier.” It adds, “we need your help to make this happen, please allow seniors to be the only ones in our store for the first hour.”
Hildebrand says she hasn’t needed to return to the grocery store yet, but doesn’t intend to either. She suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a virus that affects the lungs. She says if she contracts the virus she will die.
Hildebrand hopes that the population will respect the golden hour for customers, like herself, who need the extra care. “It would be nice if they could be respectful enough to let the seniors in from 7-8 in the morning is that really such a hardship for them?”
CTV News reached out to Sobeys, the owner of Canada Safeway for comment, but did not receive a response.
