Stores in chaos after decision
While Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was warning the country not to panic buy yesterday, that was exactly what people started to do.
Before she even finished talking from the Beehive theatrette, the previously-quiet Willis St in Wellington’s CBD was packed.
All non-essential businesses – restaurants and bars – are to close but essential services, such as supermarkets and pharmacies, would remain open.
People were specifically warned against swarming supermarkets but many ignored that message.
Kiri Hannifin, Countdown’s corporate affairs general manager, told RNZ’s Afternoons With Jesse
Mulligan that stores across the country sold enough food to feed 10 million Kiwis last week. She pleaded with New Zealanders to be kind and not buy more than was necessary.
‘‘I am asking New Zealand to please not go to the supermarket, we will be open right through this . . . we will be open every single day to look after you. There is plenty of food in our country.
‘‘Shop normally, do not stockpile
. . . because it will break our supply chain.’’
She said the demand has been hammering Countdown stores and shelves have been ‘‘wiped out’’, which had resulted in a bottleneck in the supply chain. ‘‘If you shop us out, then the rest of New Zealand won’t have stuff for tomorrow and the next day . . . Be decent.’’
Foodstuffs, which owned New World, Pak’n Save, Four Square, Gilmour’s and Trent’s, said individual stores were considering reducing operating hours, and staff were beginning to wear protective equipment such as masks.
Contactless online shopping and delivery was available for customers self-isolating or who were unwell. Customers shopping instore were asked to use contactless payment methods.
In Wellington, many shops were closed but the supermarket and pharmacy on Willis St had long queues. Outside New World, those queueing were not the recommended two metres apart, and the queue reached down the street with staff controlling entry.
A nearby Unichem pharmacy was temporarily shut down with queues waiting for the doors to open again.
In the suburb of Island Bay a queue of 30 people formed to get into the small New World supermarket. A hundred people were inside, speedily stripping the shelves of everyday essentials – bread, coffee and tinned tomatoes.
The masked doorman urged people to buy what they needed now, as at level 4 they would only let in 10 people at a time.
Across the road at the chemist, an orderly line filed down the footpath, as staff let only one person in at a time. Most were picking up regular prescriptions.
At the barber, a lone man had his hair trimmed. Kids scooted past on their way home from school, seemingly unaware that their world just shrank beyond recognition.
These scenes were mirrored around the country.