Sainsbury's, in Bury St Edmunds, to open for elderly and vulnerable customers for an hour tomorrow

Sainsbury's will reserve an hour in its Bury St Edmunds store for elderly and vulnerable customers tomorrow.

The Bedingfeld Way supermarket is setting aside the first hour of trading tomorrow – 7-8am – for the elderly and vulnerable to ensure they can access the products they need.

It is also helping elderly and vulnerable customers to access food online by opening priority access to online delivery slots from Monday to those aged over 70 or with a disability.

The store will also be operating an expanded click and collect service from Monday, which the company believes will work for people who are self-isolating.

Mike Coupe, chief executive, said: "As we work to feed the nation, we are also focussing all of our efforts on getting as much food and other essential items from our suppliers, into our warehouses and on to shelves as we possibly can. We still have enough food for everyone – if we all just buy what we need for us and our families."

As a result, from tomorrow the supermarket is closing its cafés and meat, fish and pizza counter in an attempt to free up warehouse and lorry capacity for products customers need. It will also free up time for staff to keep shelves stocked.

New limits are being placed on certain items, with a maximum of three of any grocery product and a maximum of two of the most popular products, including toilet paper, soap and UHT milk.

"We have enough food coming into the system, but are limiting sales so that it stays on shelves for longer and can be bought by a larger numbers of customers," added Mr Coupe.