Summary

Signage outside entrance to Woolworths, Canterbury Rd, Blackburn South, 25th May 2020. The signs and notices provide information on store hours, product limits, treating staff with respect and warranty & returns.

This photograph was taken during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic in Melbourne in 2020. It references the public health strategies that were in place to reduce the risk of infection with the virus for staff and customers. These strategies included social distancing as a key measure, perspex safety screens, cashless payment and hand hygiene.

It also evokes the residual effects of the panic buying that took place between late February and the start of May as Australians sought to come to grips with the potential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on their lives. This panic buying led supermarkets to change their opening hours, apply purchase limits on particular products and even bring in security guards to maintain respectful and courteus behaviour in some stores. Many of the strategies to manage customer behaviour were still in place in mid-May when this photograph was taken.

Further panic buying happened in June-July 2020 when a second lockdown happened in Victoria due to a resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Description of Content

Signage outside entrance to supermarket. Many of the signs are posted on the glass windows with blutac while the permanent sign is hanging, with a temporary notice blu-tacked over the top of it.

Physical Description

Digital colour photograph.

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