Premier Gladys Berejiklian has asked shoppers to remain calm after reports of bare toilet paper shelves in NSW following the reinstatement of product limits in Victorian supermarkets.
Toilet paper was in short supply at Coles and Woolworths at Roselands in Sydney's south-west on Thursday, the Herald has been told.
Empty toilet paper shelves at Roselands Woolworths, left, and Coles.
Posting on social media, shoppers also complained of empty shelves at Coles Merrylands and Woolworths Leichhardt in Sydney, as well as Coles Toronto in Lake Macquarie.
On Wednesday afternoon Coles, Woolworths and IGA said they would reinstate product limits for toilet paper, hand sanitiser, paper towels, flour, sugar, pasta, minced meat, long-life milk, eggs and rice at all their Victorian stores.
Coles also reinstated product limits in three NSW stores – Lavington, Albury and Deniliquin – which use Victorian distribution centres.
Costco, which has stores at Marsden Park, Crossroads and Auburn, has reintroduced a one-per-person limit on its toilet paper packs nationwide.
It is believed the panic buying, which was witnessed earlier in the pandemic, is being caused by an uptick in coronavirus cases in Melbourne over the past week.
Victoria reported its ninth day of double-digit case growth on Thursday, with 33 new cases.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Friday that shoppers need to "stay calm" as there was no need for items to be stockpiled.
"Please continue to maintain your calm; continue to do what you've been doing – NSW is doing incredibly well," Ms Berejiklian said, adding that she didn't "blame" people for being concerned as product limits were reintroduced in Victoria amid an uptick in cases.
"We all have to be on our guard, but we certainly, certainly don't need to change our normal buying habits. So please continue with your normal buying habits, there's nothing to worry about."
A Woolworths spokesperson said they had seen "higher than usual" demand for toilet paper in parts of NSW, and were monitoring the situation.
“We’ve seen pockets of higher-than-usual demand for toilet roll across parts of NSW [on Thursday], but not anywhere near the levels we saw in Victoria," the spokesperson said.
"We’ll keep a close eye on demand over the coming days. We continue to ask customers to buy only what they need, as there is plenty of stock to replenish our shelves.”
Coles has been contacted for comment.
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Mary Ward is a reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.
Natassia is the education reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.
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2020-06-25 23:37:11Z
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