Now OpenTable Lets You Reserve a Time to Go Grocery Shopping

Grocery stores are reducing the number of patrons to further enforce social distancing rules. OpenTable has partnered with participating grocery stores to limit how many people are shopping at a given time. Just like you can make a restaurant reservation or join a waitlist, now you can reserve your shopping time or join a virtual line in the OpenTable app.

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Coming soon: Grocery stores and other retailers will be able to offer reserved shopping times and online waitlists with OpenTable’s reservation technology. Reserved shopping times are rolling out in SF and LA, and will be coming to stores near you soon. Fewer crowds and fewer lines means better social distancing, which is how we can all work to stop the spread of coronavirus. Learn more at the link in bio.

A post shared by OpenTable (@opentable) on Apr 1, 2020 at 6:14am PDT

There are two ways to utilize OpenTable’s new service. You can reserve your shopping time. Just like when you reserve a table at a restaurant, you can reserve a time to enter a store. You can also join an online waitlist if you haven’t pre-reserved your time slot. Instead of standing in a physical line outside of the store, you can enter a code on your phone to join a waitlist. Then you can wait for your notification while you sit in your car, away from any crowds.

Reserved shopping times are rolling out in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and they’ll be coming to more stores soon. You can access the list right on the groceries page in the OpenTable app.

—Jennifer Swartvagher

Featured photo: Anna Shvets from Pexels