Northern Ireland

Freezer sales up as shoppers stockpile for COVID-19 lockdown

Cross border shoppers rushed to stockpile in Derry after Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar's announcement. Picture by Margaret McLaughlin
Cross border shoppers rushed to stockpile in Derry after Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar's announcement. Picture by Margaret McLaughlin Cross border shoppers rushed to stockpile in Derry after Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar's announcement. Picture by Margaret McLaughlin

THE taoiseach's announcement yesterday led to a sudden sale on freezers as shoppers rushed to stockpile food for the coronavirus lockdown.

Leo Varadkar’s statement sparked a run on shopping with supermarkets in Co Donegal and in Derry and Strabane reporting a huge rise in businesses, with a spike in sales of freezers proving an unexpected result of the lockdown.

With schools and colleges in Derry accommodating huge numbers of southern students, Mr Varadkar’s announcement also posed a quandary for many Donegal families.

While some family members prepared for lockdown in the Republic, others were expected to travel the few miles over the border where it's business as usual. The result appeared to be southern students voting with their feet and heading back across the border for home.

Shoppers appeared to be keen to stockpile toilet rolls and pasta. In Derry’s Sainsbury’s store, shoppers were snapping up toilet roll packs as quickly as staff could restock shelves.

Other items in demand included pasta, canned goods, bread and paracetamol. In the city’s Tesco’s Strand Road store, it was a similar story.

Shopper Agnes Austin from Derry said she was shocked by the numbers crowding Tesco. Ms Austin said she was “stocking up” on toilet rolls.

She said she was also "buying pasta and rice".

Following the initial rush, numbers fell by early afternoon although they were still much higher than normal for a Thursday.

Killian Johnston of Sweeney’s Chemists at Derry’s Quayside shopping centre compared trade to a “busy Christmas Eve”. He said there was an undoubted increase in demand for hand sanitizers and face masks.

“There was a huge increase passing us into Tesco and we were much, much busier as well. It’s difficult to tell if the shoppers were cross-border or not.”

Mr Johnston said shoppers did not appear to be seeking prescription drugs but demand for paracetamol increased dramatically.

“My advice would be not to panic. Medication wise there’s no need to panic at all; there’s nothing more than normal showing short in our suppliers, just what you would see every week. I wouldn’t be concerned about that at all.

“We haven’t noticed anybody trying to stock pile prescription-only medicines but we have noticed a run out there on paracetamol,” he said.

In Letterkenny, Crumlish Electrical Appliances reported an increase in freezer sales as customers stockpiled food.

A spokesman said: “We had three lying there and they’d dust on them they were there that long and all three went first thing this (Thursday) morning and I’ll tell you another thing, they didn’t argue about the price. We’re one of smaller outlets so if people are coming to us they’ve tried everywhere else in town.

“We could sell more if we could get them but our supplier in Dublin is out of them.”

A spokesperson at Callaghan's Electrical Euronics reported a similar story, saying the store could sell many more freezers if they could get them from suppliers.