Shops Stock Levels Depleted
As Coronavirus continues to dominate National news headlines, we’re hearing a few reports of depleted stocks of certain foods, products and medicines in local shops. Witnessing this for ourselves, we were surprised to be unable to buy certain products like handwashing and hand sanitisers in local chemists today and seeing empty shelves cleared of medicines in local stores like Asda and Sainsburys, seemed to confirm that people may be ‘stocking up’ for whatever reason.
According to a survey yesterday from Retail Economics, as many as one in 10 UK consumers is stockpiling, based on a sample of 2,000 shoppers. Overstocking on certain things seems to also now be spreading to long life products like pasta, cereals and UHT milk. Despite this, there’s nothing which suggests any food or products are in shortage.
One local resident who wishes to remain anonymous told us, “It’s all just a farce. There’s absolutely no reason for people to be stocking up on general medicine leaving shelves empty when they’re in good health and others genuinely ill need it.”
It seems somewhat strange or even surreal, through perhaps prompted unnecessarily by fear of having to self-isolate. So today we ask…..are people unnecessarily stocking up?
