Waitrose is the latest supermarket chain to offer special shopping hours for elderly and vulnerable customers, with its Wells store offering a dedicated slot every day.

From tomorrow (March 20), in Waitrose supermarkets the elderly, the vulnerable and those who look after them will be able to take advantage of a prioritised and dedicated shopping hour.

The dedicated hour will be the first opening hour of the shop, which for the Wells store means 8am to 9am every day of the week except on a Sunday, when it will be from 11am to noon.

Sharon White, chairman of the John Lewis Partnership that runs Waitrose, said: "At this time of national crisis, the John Lewis Partnership is wholeheartedly committed to ensuring we support customers and in particular the elderly and most vulnerable.

"Our commitment to contribute to the wellbeing of the communities we operate in has always been at the heart of our business.

"Partners have been outstanding, supporting each other and responding to the huge surge in demand at Waitrose.

"More than 2,100 John Lewis Partners are helping in Waitrose shops this month and supporting deliveries - I am truly grateful to everyone."

A £1 million Community Support Fund from the partnership will be available to communities across the UK to help those in need.

Teams in each shop will work together with their communities to choose the best way to use the fund.

Help could include setting up additional local delivery services to support the self-isolating, the vulnerable, the elderly and those looking after them; delivering boxes of staples to local care homes and community groups, and donating products to create care packages for customers to share with vulnerable neighbours.

Waitrose has also taken the decision to close all Waitrose Cafes and rotisseries, and to temporarily suspend making coffees.

This will free up extra hours for Partners to keep shelves stocked with food and essential items. In some cases, branches will be closing early to give Partners time to restock the shelves.

From today, Waitrose is also taking new steps to ensure food is distributed fairly. In addition to existing limits on some online items, there will be a limit of three for any specific grocery item, and a maximum of two packets of toilet roll per customer buying in shops.

Anticipating the feelings of loneliness and isolation customers may start to feel at home, John Lewis is exploring ways to offer its Partner led services remotely to customers in their homes.

Expectant parents seeking important nursery advice for example could book an online session with a specialist nursery advisor to help them plan the key things to think about before their baby arrives.

Other services could include wellbeing advice, craft and cookery classes provided by Partners online, or on one to one calls.

To ensure the wellbeing of Partners, who are working long hours to meet the needs of customers, the Partnership is setting up a support fund to aid those who are facing additional costs as a result of the pandemic, such as childcare costs. Partners will also be offered free meals at work.