Bajans hit hardware stores to recover and prepare

As the clean-up and repair work continues from the first hurricane to hit Barbados in well over half a century, Barbadians have been flocking to hardware stores for much-needed building items and hurricane supplies.

When a team from Barbados TODAY visited several hardware stores from across the island on Monday, store managers all reported similar experiences in terms of customer demand, saying that shoppers were snapping up specific building materials such as nails and cement.

At Carter’s newest branch at Warrens, store manager Carmela Gibbs and assistant manager Anna-Lee Hutchinson commented on the demand from customers over the course of the day, with Hutchinson saying the usual supplies, including rechargeable light bulbs, were in demand.

“Tarpaulins, lumber, and all general building materials have been in great demand; the flow of customers has been pretty good today since we have opened  at 8 this morning and we are very pleased with how things are going so far,” said Hutchinson.

“Our rechargeable bulbs, so when the electricity goes off they automatically come on, they too have been in high demand. People are still buying lanterns and flashlights, and also water containers.”

Store Manager of Kooyman Barbados, Harold Stolwijk, said that in response to power and water outages currently being experienced by Barbadians, ice coolers and generators have practically been all bought out during the course of the day.

He told Barbados TODAY: “Before [Hurricane Elsa] customers bought the usually hurricane supplies because they were not sure if there would be a hurricane, but when the hurricane did come, the need for items was much bigger. For example, the ice coolers – we did not sell them much before the hurricane, but the day after everyone wanted one. The coolers are being used at home for their meats because everyone does not have electricity.

“If it was a small tropical storm, no one might have wanted a generator, but because of the size of the damage experienced, and a lot of the electricity poles being down, generators have been purchased in their numbers since the weekend.”

Stolwijk also said that solar rechargeable devices like fans and batteries have also been in demand.

Sherryann Burrows, a supervisor at the Home Improvement Hardware Oistins branch, said Barbadians continue to be last-minute shoppers, but she saw high demand for nails and building materials.

“Lots of nails, stocking up still on batteries, they came for plywood, cement, sand and torchlights,” she said. “It’s a little slower today, but they are still in the mode of purchasing items. Tarpaulins, they are buying more than one tarpaulin; we have been out of nails, we replenished already, so we… once again have stock of nails.

“From yesterday they were calls on top of calls for generators but that is one thing that we do not carry, but we are looking to start carrying some options.” (SB)