As the Channel Island’s leading community retailer, we want to assure everyone that we are working tirelessly to support our island communities during this time of uncertainty.

At The Channel Islands Co-operative Society we recognise we have a critical role to play in supporting our members, customers and colleagues, as well as our local communities in the most co-operative, responsible and compassionate way we can.

We have therefore implemented the following changes, with our customers, members and colleagues best interests at heart:

• We are working really hard to feed the islands but we need your help to ensure there is enough food on our shelves for everybody. Therefore, we have brought in restrictions on all items in our stores to allow everybody to get the food and everyday essentials that they need.
• To enable our store colleagues to keep shelves stocked and serve our customers, we are temporarily closing our meat, fish and deli counters.
• To allow us to ensure that our stores are completely cleaned, are fully stocked and to give our hard working colleagues time to rest, we will be temporarily changing our food store trading hours to close at 7pm.
• We are doing everything we can to make sure our vulnerable islanders are getting the food they need, which is why we have set up an emergency delivery service to deliver essential items to those in need.
• Our local suppliers are key to our island’s economy, which is why we will continue to support and champion them and have improved their payment terms to ensure they do not suffer financially during this period of uncertainty.
• Our medical and pharmacy teams are doing all they can to deal with an increased level of calls and we ask that you bear with us if the waiting time is longer than usual. We will respond to you as quickly as possible.
• We also ask that you do not come in to our GP surgeries or pharmacies if you are experiencing any symptoms of coronavirus. Please ring the Government of Jersey helpline on 01534 445566 or Government of Guernsey helpline on 01481 756938.
• To ensure we can deal with the unprecedented high volume of enquiries, we have taken the difficult decision to start a 'closed door' policy for all our Travelmaker branches until further notice. Our colleagues are contactable during normal opening hours via telephone and email. Check the website for contact details.
• To support our colleagues who are working tirelessly, we are recruiting extra resource with immediate effect. For more information visit: www.channelislands.coop/careers

Our colleagues have gone above and beyond and I would just like to thank each and every one of them for their hard work and dedication during this difficult time. We thank all our customers for their patience and for supporting our colleagues as they work tirelessly to make a real difference to our community.

These are exceptional times but we promise that we’re here for you and we will get through this together.

Take care,

Mark