Corona innovation: Coast grocer offers drive-by shopping

It’s a return to old-fashioned friendly driveway service.

But this time it’s not at the local petrol pump, but the grocery store.

Tathra Friendly Grocer is innovating in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, by offering to take your shopping list and do the legwork for you while you wait in your car.

Owner Nicole Dowdle was just about to serve her first car park customer when we called on Wednesday.

“We’ve been doing home deliveries forever, but not everyone knows about that,” she said.

The store offers free home delivery throughout Tathra on weekdays for orders of $30 or more.

“We’re starting to see an increase in them, but we’re really hoping this new idea picks up and catches on.”

At the moment it’s trusting Ms Dowdle and her team with your cash or card to take inside and pay, but a couple of mobile EFTPOS machines are due by the end of this week to make the process even smoother.

“Just give us a toot and someone will be out to see you,” she wrote on the business’s Facebook page.

For those who still wish to shop themselves, the grocer is limiting customers to five inside at any one time, with a handwashing/sanitising station being made available.

Tathra Friendly Grocer is open 7am until 7pm, seven days a week.

Ms Dowdle said they would close for several hours on Tuesday mornings to deal with deliveries though and thanked customers for their patience.

You can contact Tathra Friendly Grocer on 6494 1202, or via email to [email protected]

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