Supermarkets start to reopen as Shanghai pandemic situation improves

A growing number of supermarkets and grocery stores have resumed offline business as the pandemic situation in Shanghai continues to improve.

Six supermarkets situated in the various Wanda Plazas in the city have restored offline operations, according to a notice published on May 6 by the commercial property conglomerate.

These supermarkets, which are mostly located in the suburban Songjiang, Jinshan and Qingpu districts where the number of infections are relatively lower, are the first batch of supermarkets to be given the green light to resume offline operations, the company announced on its official WeChat account.

Over at Baolong City Plaza in Fengxian district, the Freshippo mini store has also start receiving customers. To make an in-store purchase, visitors must present their digital itinerary codes and a document that proves they are allowed to leave their compounds.

The Yonghui Superstores, PizzaHut and Yifeng Pharmacy within the plaza have also resumed offline operations.

Shops closer to the city center have also been gradually reopening. On May 5, a major Metro supermarket on Zhenbei Road of Putuo district welcomed large numbers of customers.

According to Wang Hongyu, the manager of the Metro, these customers are residents living in neighborhoods within precautionary zones and could only shop on the premises during a specific time period allocated to them.

As of the end of April, over 50 Freshippo stores in Shanghai had resumed online and offline operations, according to its parent company Alibaba.

RT-Mart has also dispatched some 2,300 personnel from other cities to Shanghai to bolster its operations.

Meanwhile, smart logistics solutions provider Cainiao has taken measures to boost its delivery and storage capacity, including the opening of three emergency transport routes that run between Nanjing, Hangzhou, Jiaxing and Shanghai.

Cao Yin contributed to this story.