Barbadians ramp up their shopping

Appeals by the Prime Minister to stop panic-buying at the nation’s stores appeared to fall on deaf ears, as a fresh wave of shoppers descended on supermarkets as news spread that Barbados had recorded its first two cases of COVID-19.

Last night, Prime Minister urged consumers to desists from panic buying, noting that the country had supplies on the island for up to three months.

But at Massy Stores Warrens, the lines were reminiscent of a tropical storm alert, and while management of the store declined to comment, one customer noted that the supermarket was all out of surgical alcohol and hand sanitiser. At least two customers the Barbados TODAY team spotted in that supermarket were wearing surgical masks, as has been the practice in some of the other countries with high rates of infection.

At Popular Discounts on Spooner’s Hill, cashiers were kept busy as the lines stretched all the way down the aisles.

These two shoppers in Massy Stores Warrens donned their face masks to protect themselves among the crowd.

One of the employees told Barbados TODAY that hand sanitisers had disappeared from the shelves “ever since” and Vitamin C packs, surgical alcohol, bleach and other cleaning agents and anti-bacterial soaps were in short supply.

Popular’s Chief Operating Officer McArthur Barrow, told Barbados TODAY: “From the time Covid-19 showed up in the Caribbean about a week ago, we saw a ‘step up’ in shopping for cleaning items, sanitisers and bleaches.

“And since the announcement of our first two confirmed cases this morning, we saw yet another ‘ramp up’ in shopping.

“Toilet paper is going fast, for example, and based on some of what my colleagues in the retail business are saying, it is the same throughout all the stores in Barbados.”

In a statement issued this evening, the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry stated that it met with its major retailers and distributors earlier today to discuss measures “to ensure the management of inventory during this critical time in the nation’s interest.”

One of these measures includes an immediate limit placed on the quantity of bathroom tissue that may be purchased by a single shopper. This will be placed at six rolls per shopper, except where twelve-pack tissue rolls are available, and in the latter case, only one pack will be permitted per shopper.

In the wake of the rush on supermarkets, the chamber further advised: “We further wish to reassure the public that basic food items are in adequate supply and remind members of the public that there is no need to panic.”