Since the Christmas holidays, Creston shoppers have noticed some new technology added to Pealow’s - Your Independent Grocer.
It’s the first grocery store in the Creston Valley to bring in self-checkouts, installed in early December.
Store owner Brian Pealow said the four new checkouts aim to reduce the long line-ups of customers during peak hours. These new additions are just the first steps in larger renovation plans to update the store this year.
A common misconception is that the self-checkouts will lead to less of a human touch and eliminate the need for cashiers.
“We have heard some concerns about the self-checkouts replacing jobs,” said Pealow, who purchased the store with his wife Julia in 2017. “But we’ve had some very good conversations with our customers, and our colleagues, about the reasons why we did this.”
Pealow said that, in fact, 10 hours of labour per day have been added to the store. Prior to installing the self-checkouts, there was one express lane open for customers with just a handful of items.
“Generally, we had five or six hours a day scheduled on the express lane,” he said. “Now, we have someone manning these self-checkouts from open ’til close, which is about 15 hours. And we’ve hired four new employees just to help out with our front end.”
During the busy weeks over the Christmas holidays, Pealow said the self-checkouts were a massive help with managing customer volume.
“We’ve been hearing from customers that they like being able to come in and not having to wait in line,” he said. “It was very chaotic before.”
The employees managing the self-checkouts are also enjoying the change from their usual practice of standing at a stationary till.
“They get to move around and be more interactive with customers,” said Pealow. “We’ve been giving everyone an opportunity to hop on the self-checkouts, and they love the chance to be a bit more social. From a morale perspective, it’s been an absolute blessing.”
For customers who might be nervous about using the touchscreen technology for the first time, Pealow encourages them to to try it out and ask the staff for help.
“That’s what they’re there for. You don’t even need to run your groceries through the self-checkout yourself,” he said. “We can do it for you, if it reduces the wait time on our other tills.”
He said any further questions can be directed to his email at mon01734@loblaw.ca.
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