Complaints and compliments on limited shopping

It was a mixed basket of responses from grocers and shoppers on the first day of limited shopping since the curfew went into effect last Friday night.

The scene at all the locations was a far cry from those of last Thursday and Friday, hours before the curfew went into effect, when people swarmed the supermarkets with little regard for the physical distancing rules.

All supermarkets today reported a very busy morning attending customers, and while it was relatively smooth sailing for some, others described the new measure as “chaotic” and “madness”, while others said they accommodated the people who showed up with shopping lists.

Acting Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw announced the new limited access to grocery shopping during her last press conference as Government gave the nod to allow retailers to open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. for pickups of pre-ordered items or collection of packages pre-packed with “essential” items by the supermarket chains.

When a Barbados TODAY team visited several popular supermarkets in St James and St Michael this morning, police officers were observed on duty while at others there were roving patrols.

Store Manager at Channell supermarket in Black Rock, Mark Jordan told Barbados TODAY most of the orders were via phone and while they had prepacked goods on hand there were no requests for those up to midday.

“It has been a very busy morning and things are going pretty well. I believe most customers are satisfied with the progress and how it is going. I am glad we could come and do things a different way to satisfied everybody. It is a very difficult time for people and we want to practice all the safety measures that have been put in place,” said Jordan.

He said after placing orders individuals showed up between half an hour to an hour to collect, and wait time averaged between 10 and 15 minutes.

“We have people showing up with lists and want items. That one is working as well but some of them are impatient. We still work with them because we want to make sure that everybody is satisfied. We want to provide for everyone,” said Jordan.

ShopSmart Store Manager at the Holder’s Hill location, Tricia Forde-Lynch said she was pleased with how the day started out. She said that location received a lot of WhatsApp, email and phone orders.

“Then we have a few walk-in customers. So far it has been steady,” she said, adding that she was expecting things to get even busier in coming days.

“We are trying to accommodate everybody,” said Forde-Lynch.

None of the operators at the Carlton A1 Supermarket in Black Rock was available for comment. However, several people were observed walking up to the entrance giving their names and collecting their pre-ordered items and paying.

One such customer, Sandra Prince told Barbados TODAY she called in around 9 a.m. and she was told to show up at the location in half-an-hour to pick up her order and pay.

Prince described the process as a smooth one, saying she only waited about five minutes.

“It was pretty good. To me it is going pretty fast,” said the Deacons Farm, St Michael resident.

It was not so much a smooth flow for some elsewhere.

One customer who did not want to be identified said he had to wait a long time at one St James location, adding that he was not aware that orders were only to be done by telephone or email.

He said he showed up at the supermarket with his list and had been waiting outside for close to an hour for one of the supermarket workers to fetch his items.

The situation was similar at the Jordans Supermarket in Fitts Village, with several people, mostly elderly, waiting in line with lists to be served as they observed the physical distancing rules. They opted not to speak.

Supermarket owner Audley Jordan Jnr told Barbados TODAY those customers were not sure about the process and they showed up with a list instead of pre-ordering.

“It is very chaotic,” he said, “chaotic meaning that you are running a big supermarket as a small shop. I have people running to get stuff, trying to prepack bags, trying to fulfil phone orders and email orders. It is very difficult. It cannot work,” he said, adding that the supermarket was not operating with a full staff complement.

He said people were not pleased with the pre-packaged items, explaining that individuals were saying some of the items were not what they really wanted.

“It is very difficult to gauge what a person wants because not everybody is going to want the same thing,” said Jordan.

Pointing out that some people have particular needs, Jordan said: “If you regulate who  is coming to the store, whether by age or name, and they present their ID so they can come in like the post office is doing, you can do that every day at each store a limited time 9 to 5 and close Saturday and Sunday. That is better.”

Over at Massy Supercentre in Warrens, the main car pack was closed to vehicular traffic, and people were seen going in and coming out quickly as they picked up their pre-ordered items.

Describing the current arrangement as madness, one woman at a supermarket who did not want to be identified told Barbados TODAY it was simply not working.

“You got people that have the pre-packed things and they don’t want that,” she complained.

“A lot of people want vegetables, and they are going for things they would have run out of. It is really hard. And then you have people calling to do orders and when you go to the cash register and cash them and tell them how much it is, they say they don’t want it,” she said.

Adding that some people had special needs, she said when they show up to order a prepacked basket of goods and saw what was in them, they opted not to take it.

“I think they should have come up with a different plan, either decide on some set days when you can choose and say for example, Mondays or Tuesdays for the elderly between a particular time and then the next day you have another age. But find a system that is going to work. This is utter madness right now,” she complained.
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb