Asda Hulme arranges food deliveries for self-isolating university students

Colleagues from our Hulme store are making sure 1,700 students at the nearby Manchester Metropolitan University will get the food they need while they self-isolate in the halls of residence for the next two weeks.

The store doesn't normally have a home delivery service, but has doubled their Click and Collect slots specially for the students and is arranging transport to the students' accommodation, just across the road.

Store manager Paul Wilcox said: "The students are very close to us – in fact you can see the bedrooms from one of the halls of residence from the front of the store.

"The local council got in touch and asked what could we do to help and I said 'tell me what you need and I'll see what I can do'.

"So we've doubled our Click & Collect capacity to help the students and we've borrowed a vehicle and a driver from another store. The students order online and we will deliver the food to the campus.

"We've been dropping it off with the university staff at the reception of each halls of residence and they then contact the relevant students. Over the course of the two weeks we will be making deliveries to 1,700 students. Deliveries that wouldn't have happened any other way."

Paul says everyone at the store is glad to be part of the "community effort" helping the students affected by the coronavirus outbreak – many of whom have just left home for the first time.

He said: "We just wanted to help those customers who currently cannot get into us. Normally they would just walk across he road and come in for their shopping."