J Sainsbury : An update from our Chief Executive, Simon Roberts about extra steps we’re taking to help customers shop safely this December

Dear customer,

Christmas is fast approaching and I wanted to let you know about some extra steps we're taking to help you shop safely this December.

Help us to serve you quicker, please shop alone

We want to help everyone get in and out of our shops quickly and safely. We are doing everything we can to keep queues as short as possible - and we really appreciate your help with this. We are limiting the number of people in our shops at any one time, so please help us to help you by shopping alone where at all possible. By shopping on your own, we can help more people to get in and out of our stores much more quickly - which means less time queuing for everyone. Of course we understand that some people need support with their shopping and that single parents will need to bring their children.

To help with this, we have greeters on hand outside busy stores who count people going in and out so we have a safe number of people inside at any one time. They will also be asking customers to shop alone where possible. Our colleagues have done a phenomenal job this year, working extremely hard in challenging conditions to serve all our customers and help us to feed the nation. Please continue to show your support to them over the festive period - they and I would really appreciate it.

Shop early, shop safe

We and other retailers have been asking you to shop early to help us serve everyone in the key Christmas weeks. Lots of you have been following this advice and buying Christmas cupboard essentials much earlier than usual. Thank you for this. Buying these products earlier means you'll find everything you need and we hope you can then focus on your fresh food shop closer to the day itself. Plus, it should help us manage queues better as we get closer to Christmas. To thank you for shopping early, you can collect 10x Nectar points when you shop across thousands of Christmas cupboard lines, in store or online, between Friday 4th and Sunday 13th December. You can find more details on the offer and which products are included here.

When you're shopping in our stores, try using SmartShop. This is a great app that you can set up on your phone before you get to the store, then immediately start scanning your items and pack as you shop before checking out quickly - so no need to unpack and then re-pack your items at the end of your shop. It's fast as well as safe. SmartShop is available in all supermarkets and by next week, you can also use the app in over 500 convenience stores.

Extended store opening hours and Boxing Day opening hours

To help you get everything you need in the final few days before Christmas, we will be opening our stores for longer. 90% of our supermarkets will be open from 6am until midnight from Monday 21st until Wednesday 23rd December and many others will be open for longer than usual.

Thank you for all your feedback about the fantastic job our colleagues are doing. They are working so hard to make sure you have everything you need for the best possible Christmas with your loved ones. To give them a little more time to spend with their families, our supermarkets will be open for fewer hours this Boxing Day. All Sainsbury's supermarkets will be open from 10am to 5pm on 26th December and our convenience stores will be open as usual.

You can find exact Christmas and Boxing Day opening hours for all our stores on our Store Locator webpage.

Help Brighten a Million Christmases

This Christmas, we want to help make sure no one goes hungry. Until Monday 14th December, we're inviting you to Help Brighten A Million Christmases. By donating food in Sainsbury's stores or donating money in-store, online or via Nectar, you can help put food on the table for thousands of families this Christmas. You can find more details about how you can Help Brighten A Million Christmases here.

To help your donations go even further, we are donating £5 million to a community fund. We'll match your donations up to £4 million and also contribute £1 million to local charities and good causes.

Giving back business rates relief

In this extraordinary year, we've been proud to play our part in feeding the nation. While we have faced significant costs in keeping colleagues and customers safe, it's clear that a second national lockdown has benefitted food and other essential retailers. With regional restrictions likely to stay in place for some time, we believe it's now fair and right that we return the government's business rates relief that we were given on all Sainsbury's stores. We know that non-essential retailers and many other businesses have been forced to close in the second lockdown and we hope that this goes some way towards helping them.

Thank you

I know we are asking you to do things a little differently this year and I'm really grateful to you all for working with us as we do our best to keep you and our colleagues safe at this important time of year. Shopping alone and shopping early will help you find everything you need and get in and out of our stores quickly and safely - so you can spend less time shopping and more time celebrating.

We will be doing everything we can to help you to shop safely and get everything you need from us for this Christmas. Please let me know if you have any feedback on your experience at Sainsbury's this Christmas. Thank you for all your support and thank you for shopping with us.

Best wishes,

Simon