Supermarkets closing early to avoid late-night anti-social behaviour

Multiple Auckland supermarkets are reducing their trading hours over safety concerns, according to the supermarket workers' union.

Last week, Woolworths Point Chevalier announced it would cut down its opening hours to 12 hours a day. Shoppers in the central suburb now have from 8am to 8pm to get their groceries.

A Woolworths spokesperson said the company made the decision in consultation with its workers' union to reduce the potential for anti-social behaviour.

FIRST Union national secretary for retail and finance Rudd Hughes said three months ago, Woolworths Onehunga decided to close earlier in the day over similar concerns.

"In Onehunga, they changed the hours there to finish earlier. That will help but it's certainly not a silver bullet."

Instead of reducing hours, the Onehunga store opted to open earlier in the day and shut at 8pm instead of 9pm.

In July, the supermarket reported physical assaults at its stores had increased by 50 percent compared to the previous 12 months.

In the same 12 months, there had been 925 acts of violence and aggression, a 9 percent increase on the year before.

Hughes said staff at the Pt Chev store were facing verbal and physical abuse and being spat on.

He said Woolworths had a risk register for retail crime and abuse of staff, rating stores on a scale of no risk to very high.

"Pt Chev is considered high. Given the amount of antisocial behaviour and threats from customers there, I want to know what very high would have to look like."

He said roughly 33 stores across the country were deemed very high risk.

"This is across Auckland and the country and across socio-economic areas."

Hughes said supermarkets also needed to increase staff to protect workers.

"They are putting in body cams and locking trolleys. But they need to have the right number of staff.

"We would love to see them go for an in-house security team, rather than hiring security guards. That would be a major move towards providing a safer working environment."

He said for staff at the Pt Chevalier supermarket, reducing their working hours was voluntary, but he did have some concerns about how it would affect their work.

"If you don't reduce your hours you're going to be put into other areas of the shop."

He said more supermarkets across the country would likely follow suit in changing their hours.

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