Islanders urged not to panic buy
ISLANDERS are being urged not to panic buy by local supermarkets as news of the coronavirus finally reaching Guernsey’s shores broke yesterday.
There have been reports in the UK of people buying large quantities of items such as dried pasta, toilet roll and hand sanitiser.
CI Co-operative Society acting CEO Mark Cox advised against panic buying. ‘Because this means we will run short of products and we want to enable everyone to buy what they need.
‘We have got plenty of products coming through from our UK suppliers and will keep our stores as well stocked as possible.’
Orders have been increased and the Co-op will continue to stockpile popular items.
Among items that have seen a rise in sales are household cleaning products, facial tissues, pain relief, canned vegetables and baby products.
Some stores had started to run low on this items, as well as toilet roll. ‘We are working hard to ensure our stock levels remain high,’ said Mr Cox.
‘We don’t currently have any restrictions on any of our items but if people continue to panic buy then we may need to review this at the end of the week and put relevant restrictions in place to ensure we maintain supply.’
He said that ‘if the worst comes to the worst’ a food delivery service will be offered to vulnerable islanders who need to self-isolate and don’t have relatives who can deliver on their behalf. ‘We want to remain as a community retailer and help anyone in need.’
Alliance trading manager Gareth Bowen said the store had seen signs of people stocking up on items such as toilet rolls, pasta, tinned goods and hand sanitiser and anti-bacterial wipes.
Yesterday lunchtime there were large gaps in the toilet roll and pasta section, but these were due to be filled over the afternoon, he said.
Retailers including Tesco, Asda and Ocado have been limiting sales in the UK.
As yet, Alliance had not brought in any limits on the amount of certain products that can be bought by each customer. ‘We’re reviewing the situation,’ he said.
‘There doesn’t seem to be any issue in the supply chain, it’s just getting the products quickly enough. Suppliers are saying that stocks are good.’
The store had experienced some issues as a result of recent storms, and Mr Bowen said that last Monday it received four days’ worth of products at once.
Yesterday’s delivery was expected as usual. ‘Fresh food is already in and all the ambient goods [general groceries] will be coming in during the afternoon.’
A Waitrose & Partners spokesperson said it had seen more demand for cleaning products and hand sanitisers. ‘We are continuing to work closely with our suppliers to ensure that we have stock available.
‘While we have introduced a temporary cap on certain products on Waitrose.com, including some anti-bacterial soaps and wipes, we have not introduced restrictions in our stores, but are monitoring closely.’
