Shortages of toilet paper, bleach and hand sanitizer in Greater Victoria might have as much to do with disruptions in the supply chain and discount pricing as they do with fears over COVID-19.
Robert Jay, vice-president of Fairway Market, said the chain of nine stores has noticed problems in getting goods from suppliers in the East because of rail blockades set up in support of Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs who oppose a natural gas pipeline passing through their traditional territory.
“There are other factors than coronavirus, so it’s hard to put a finger on what’s causing [the shortages]. It could be demand, it could be blockades.”
Or it could be pricing. “We have had bathroom tissue on sale already this week, so it’s been moving, but is it moving because of the sale or because of coronavirus?” he said.
There have been anecdotal reports from chains such as Costco and Walmart around the Lower Mainland that people have been stocking up on bottled water, rice and toilet paper for fear they could be quarantined in their homes.
On Monday, Costco in Langford ran out of toilet paper, which Catherine McLachlan discovered while shopping on Tuesday afternoon. “I know some people are panicking. My daughter is a cashier here and she’s had lots of people upset. People are stocking up,” said McLachlan, who was loading groceries into her car in the Costco parking lot.
McLachlan said people are overreacting to the threat of the coronavirus. “I’m a flight attendant and I’m not worried. It’s life, right?”
Andrea Cavanagh and Gary Cooper were also packing their groceries into their vehicle. “We came here to get rice, dog food, toilet paper and paper towels, and we spent $310 and we didn’t buy what we needed,” said Cooper. “They’re out of toilet paper. They’re out of paper towels. They’re out of everything like that. They’re out of white rice. We just got some Australian brown rice.”
Cooper said the store should limit on how much people buy. “People go in there and buy 10 giant bags of rice. If you’re getting 36 rolls of paper, just get one of those, don’t buy 10 of them.”
Jay said some Fairway stores have been out of stock for items such as toilet paper, bleach and Lysol wipes, while others still have plenty. “We can’t tell why — there’s been nothing blatant like people loading up their buggies with toilet paper, water and stuff like that. It’s been subtle,” he said, adding dried soup mixes have been moving off the shelves at some stores.
Tammy Averill, marketing manager at Country Grocer, said she noticed the toilet paper shelf was empty when she went shopping Sunday evening. “But that being said, Saturday was our one-day, giant, leap-year sale, so it kind of threw everything off,” she said.
A Walmart representative said the company is working with vendors as customers have increased demand for products in some categories, including non-perishables and sanitizers.
