Waitrose is trebling the number of delivery slots available each week through its Waitrose & Partners Rapid service. From today (17 April 2020), there will be 7,000 rapid grocery deliver slots available per week.

The service offers 2.5 million more households in London access to the service to get the food and essentials they need, and 40% of Rapid slots will be reserved for the elderly and vulnerable.

The Waitrose & Partners Rapid service, which enables shoppers to have up to 25 grocery items delivered within two hours or less or on the same day, has been trialled from eight London shops, as well as in Hove, and is now available in the areas surrounding an additional 20 Waitrose shops across London.

‘We are now making more online deliveries than Christmas week, every week’

By the end of next week, at least 40% of these new slots will be reserved exclusively for the elderly and vulnerable. Waitrose will contact customers on the government’s list of vulnerable people to inform them that they have priority access to Rapid slots.

‘We are now making more online deliveries than Christmas week, every week, and have increased slots to reach 20% more customers than usual,’ said Ben Stimson, Waitrose.com Director.

‘We know there is demand for more slots and we are doing all we can to give as many people as possible the opportunity to get the essentials they need – especially those who need them the most.’

Waitrose has also announced that it will offer an additional 10,000 online grocery collection slots, taking the total number available each week to 30,000, by introducing its online collection service to around 70 additional shops across the UK by the end of May – 40 shops are expected to offer this by the end of April.

As with the delivery slots, at least a quarter of collection slots will be also reserved for the elderly and vulnerable.

The Waitrose & Partners Rapid service is available from the following London stores:

Barbican Belgravia Brent Cross Buckhurst Hill Canary Wharf Chiswick Clapham Junction Enfield Finchley Road Harrow Weald High Holborn Kings Cross Mill Hill Monument Putney Richmond South Bank Tower South Harrow Stratford Whetstone

To check if the service delivers in your area, enter your postcode on the Waitrose & Partners Rapid website.

There is a £10 minimum spend and a £5 charge applies to receive your shopping within two hours of placing the order, or during a specified one-hour time slot on the same day.

Grocery collection has already launched in Waitrose stores in Kingston, Sevenoaks, Wimbledon, East Sheen, Westfield White City, Northwood and Bloomsbury, with more being rolled out in the coming weeks.