Coronavirus: Supermarkets urge calm as queues build ahead of Covid-19 lockdown

Tuesday, 11 August 2020

Supermarket shoppers are facing long waits as panic buying continued ahead of Auckland moving into alert level 3 at midday.

On Tuesday night, Jacinda Ardern announced there were four new Covid-19 cases in the community and the city would soon move alert levels.

On Wednesday, Aucklanders were waiting in line at supermarkets across the city since the shops opened.

As of 8am, the queue for Countdown in Ponsonby snaked down two levels to the basement car park.

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Shoppers, many of them wearing masks, waited between the cones set up in the car park. When queues were this length under the last lockdown, the wait to get into the supermarket could take an hour.

Queues were also seen at Countdown on Dominion Rd, and in Mt Roskill.

Auckland Action Against Poverty co-ordinator Ricardo Menendez March urged shoppers to use “empathy and common sense”.

He called for people with the “privilege of buying in bulk” to be mindful of the fact that stockpiling affordable goods could mean people on lower incomes have to buy more expensive alternatives.

He said a “substantive proportion” of beneficiaries may have had their benefits paid on Tuesday night, with no other option than shopping on Wednesday morning.

In West Auckland, queues of people were already outside West Liquor outlets before their usual opening time of 10am.

All were turned away after staff told disgruntled customers they wouldn’t open until midday.

Trusts chief executive Allan Pollard said all West Liquor outlets would continue to sell RTDs and spirits in level 3, but purchases would be limited.

This includes no more than three cases of beer, three packs of RTDs, three bottles of spirits and six bottles of wine per person.

“We will be trading all stores – with protocols for social distancing and staff wellbeing – on guaranteed 12 until 7pm trading hours,” Pollard said.

West Liquor outlets may change opening and closing hours, depending on stock in stores and staff availability, he said.

Wednesday morning’s queues followed a busy late-night dash to the shops for many who rushed out straight after the Prime Minister’s announcement.

At Grey Lynn Countdown on Tuesday night, dozens of people were turned away at the door as staff struggled to keep up with the masses.

Toilet paper and canned goods were among the items overflowing from trolleys, as those who could get inside stocked up on essentials.

This was despite the Prime Minister pleading with Aucklanders not to panic buy.

The Countdown website also stopped working.

A spokesperson for Countdown said all Auckland stores closed early, as staff prepared to implement physical distancing procedures once again.

“We have done this before, and we can do it again, but it’s really important that people listen to the Prime Minister’s advice and do not panic buy – we have plenty of food,” the spokesperson said.

“Our staff are great at responding to this sort of thing. We will be busy over the next few hours getting everything in place, but it will be done.”

In Grey Lynn, staff stood at the door turning people away, as chaos in the car park ensued.

Staff members told Stuff they were preparing for “more madness” on Wednesday as doors opened at 6am.

Out west at Countdown New Lynn, lines stretched more than 500m through the car park. And the supermarket, which usually stays open until midnight, closed at about 10.30pm.

Disgruntled shoppers were also turned away from Countdown in Manukau.

One person outside the store could be heard yelling that they just wanted to buy some nappies.

Auckland went into alert level 3 lockdown at midday on Wednesday in a bid to stop the spread of Covid-19.

The rest of the country is in alert level 2 for three days.

The new lockdown comes after the Government confirmed four cases of Covid-19 community transmission in Auckland.

They are all members of the same family, with no recent history of overseas travel.

The first of the cases is a person in their 50s, from south Auckland, who had symptoms and has been tested twice.

At least one child has the virus.