Hundreds of supermarkets have been forced to shut as Storm Éowyn ravages large parts of the UK, in what has been described as the storm of the century.
Mults Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons have all closed their stores across swathes of Scotland and Northern Ireland, with thousands of home deliveries and click & collect appointments also cancelled.
Aldi and Lidl have also closed stores in areas subject to a Met Office red weather warning, as have M&S and Waitrose.
The red warning – which means the storm presents a danger to life – is in place across large parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Hurricane-force winds have been reported in parts of Scotland this morning. In Northern Ireland, which has borne the brunt of the event so far, hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses have been left without power.
A Tesco spokesperson said: “To ensure the safety of our colleagues and customers, our stores located within the red weather warning for Storm Éowyn are closed today (Friday 24 January). We are very sorry for the inconvenience and thank our customers for their understanding.”
Tesco sent an email to customers in areas including Glasgow, Ayrshire and Stirling, advising that their shops would close until this evening due “to ensure the safety of our colleagues and customers”.
“Home delivery and click & collect orders scheduled for Friday from these stores will be cancelled. If you have a slot booked, we’ll contact you to confirm next steps,” it said.
Sainsbury’s said it had closed its supermarkets and convenience stores in Scotland and Northern Ireland. In Northern Ireland, its stores will be closed from 7am until 3pm. In Scotland, stores within the most significantly impacted areas are closed from 7am to 6pm. Stores are set to reopen once it is safe to do so after the weather warning lifts.
All Sainsbury’s grocery online deliveries, on-demand services and fast track deliveries for Northern Ireland and Scotland will remain cancelled tomorrow until conditions improve. Sainsbury’s is to contact customers to apologise for the inconvenience.
A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our colleagues and customers. We understand this decision may be inconvenient to some of our customers and we hope they understand.”
Asda said all stores in Northern Ireland had been closed from 6am today and would remain so “until it is safe to reopen”. Its Scottish stores in the worst hit regions closed from 9am.
An Asda spokesman said: “The safety of our colleagues and customers is paramount and so we have taken the decision to close some of our stores until it is safe to reopen. We will review the situation throughout the day and take in the latest guidance. We thank our customers for their understanding.”
Morrisons said it had closed 49 stores in Scotland and had issued an alert to shoppers to say they would remain closed “until it is safe” to reopen.
Aldi said 79 of its stores were currently closed. “Due to Storm Éowyn across Scotland today (Friday 24th January), all of our Aldi Scotland stores in the Red Weather Warning areas will be closed from 9am to 6pm to ensure the safety of our teams and customers,” said an Aldi spokesperson.
“We’re closely monitoring the situation and will share updates if there are any further changes.”
Lidl also confirmed the closure of stores in areas under the red warning. “Due to the red weather warnings, and to ensure safety of customers and colleagues, we have closed Lidl stores in the affected areas in Scotland between 10am-5pm,” said a spokesperson. “However, we will continue to monitor the situation.”
Lidl has published a list of about 80 affected stores on its website.
An M&S spokesperson said: “The safety of our colleagues and customers is our number one priority. As a result of the red weather warning guidance issued in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland, we have temporarily closed our stores in the affected areas.”
Waitrose also confirmed similar action. “In the interest of partner and customer safety, our six Waitrose shops in Scotland are closed today,” said a spokesperson. “We will reopen as normal tomorrow.”
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