A village shop is offering home deliveries to the elderly and vulnerable amid the coronavirus outbreak.

East Anglian Daily Times: Fears over the coronavirus have seen empty shelves for products, such as hand gel and toilet roll from panic buying. Picture: ARCHANTFears over the coronavirus have seen empty shelves for products, such as hand gel and toilet roll from panic buying. Picture: ARCHANT (Image: Archant)

Budgens in Long Melford near Sudbury are now taking orders for home deliveries for anyone unable to make it to the shops.

Owner Simon Barrett and his daughter Francesca Rogers, who works in the shop, are worried some of their regular customers in self isolation won’t be able to get essential items so have decided to take action to help their community.

Ms Rogers, 31, said: “We have a lot of elderly customers so we want to support them as much as possible. We had our first order this morning, a 97 year old lady who we delivered to within half an hour. We are aiming to open 2 hour delivery slots and deliver orders on the same day.”

The shop has had to order additional stock of key items, such as toilet roll, soap and pasta and says trade has been busy since the coronavirus outbreak.

When asked if the virus had them concerned, Ms Rogers said: “I’m not overly worried. We are advising staff to regularly wash hands and wear gloves if they want to. We’re just hoping to get through this together as best we can so at the moment, it’s business as usual.”

“We’re ensuring our shelves are fully stocked as much as possible. We have a delivery van and I will use my car if we become inundated with orders. Some customers have even offered their own cars to help with deliveries.

“It’s been very humbling to know that people are coming together as a local community.”

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