Long queues of shoppers as Gonzalo approaches island

Food buying dominated at supermarkets across the island under a hurricane watch for Tropical Storm Gonzalo’s passage as a likely hurricane in the next 48 hours. Residents flocked to supermarkets and hardware stores on Thursday to stock up on goods and supplies.

Several stores reported a significant increase in traffic, resulting in long lines and wait-times for shoppers.

This was evident at big box stores Pricesmart and Cost-U-Less, where queues snaked around the building, while ShopSmart saw brisk day-long shopping.

As of 5:12 p.m., Thursday, a hurricane watch remained in effect for Barbados, with Tropical Storm Gonzalo located 725 miles east south east of Barbados.

According to the Barbados Meteorological Services, on its current forecast track, the centre of Tropical Storm Gonzalo is expected to pass approximately 85 miles (137 km) to the south of Barbados on Saturday.

The BMS cautioned that Gonzalo could become a hurricane within the next 36 to 48 hours.

When Barbados TODAY visited ShopSmart’s Six Roads, St Philip store, branch manager Arlene Holder said she had been seeing more customers from yesterday.

“Things have definitely picked up and we have been seeing more shoppers from yesterday. It has continued into today and we are seeing a steady stream of traffic throughout the whole day,” she pointed out.

Holder said among some of the hot selling items was canned goods, water, toilet paper and paper towels.

One woman told Barbados TODAY she was not taking any chances.

She said even though Tropical Storm Gonzalo was not expected to hit the island, she wanted to make sure her cupboards were well stacked.

“I have food at home but I came today to buy some extra stuff. These weather systems are unpredictable and they can change course at anytime so I want to be prepared for the worst,” she said.

Just a stone’s throw away, at Carter’s General Stores, manager Kirk Field said he, too had seen an influx of shoppers.

Batteries, water containers, lamps, bulbs were some of the more popular items been bought, he said.

There had also been constant traffic during the day and with the weather system predicted to pass close to Barbados this weekend a decision had not yet been made about possibly extending opening hours.

“We will maintain them for the time being and we will see if needs be what we will do, but for the time being we will do our regular 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.,” the consumer noted.

Shopper James Harrison told Barbados TODAY he was mostly prepared but needed some extra batteries and candles.

While no comment was forthcoming from Emerald City Supermarkets, Barbados TODAY witnessed several long lines of waiting shoppers outside.

But one hardware store that did not see any significant increase was Star Finish Hardware Supplies in Six Roads.

An employee told Barbados TODAY customers were not rushing to buy any supplies.

“Barbadians are last-minute shoppers, too, so maybe there will be a rush tomorrow and Saturday,” she said.  randybennett@barbadostoday.bb