Giant Eagle Debuts ‘Totally Contactless’ Location
The chain converted a Pittsburgh-area store into curbside pickup only.
May 08, 2020
PITTSBURGH—Giant Eagle recently transformed one of its Pittsburgh locations into curbside pickup only, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. Customers simply order online, drive to the store, and pop open their trunk to receive their order.
“It’s a totally contactless experience,” said Giant Eagle director of corporate communications Dan Donovan. The repurposed, 45,000-square-foot store offers between 25,000 and 50,000 items for online order and curbside pickup. Giant Eagle is not charging extra for the shopping service. The converted store has added more workers to meet demand, which has grown threefold since the stay-at-home edict.
Giant Eagle has plans to transform other stores in the area to offer curbside pickup as well. Some of the chain’s Ohio stores also have curbside pickup only. “This store isn’t the last thing we will do,” Donovan said. “We have to continue to innovate.”
Other stores are adding online ordering, curbside pickup and delivery options too. “The rate of [e-commerce] growth will be higher than pre-COVID. We’re investing in labor, in technology,” CEO Vivek Sankaran said in a Grocery Dive article quoted in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “We have the plans, now it’s a matter of accelerating those investments commensurate with the growth we’re seeing.”
NACS has compiled resources to help the convenience retail community navigate the COVID-19 crisis. For news updates and guidance, visit our coronavirus resources page.
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