Published Apr 14, 2020 at 9:02 am
(Updated Apr 14, 2020 at 9:02 am)
-
Shoppers outside the Heron Bay MarketPlace (File photograph by Blaire Simmons)
Supermarket shelves remain well stocked as Bermuda battles Covid-19, industry representatives said yesterday.
A spokesman for The MarketPlace chain said that its stores were replenished daily.
He added: We have managers and merchandisers working a combination of daytime shifts, overnight shifts and early-morning shifts to pick online orders and refill shelves.
The spokesman said that popular items were put back on the shelves as new shipments arrive.
He added: We currently have new orders arriving daily from wholesalers and two to three times per week on ships arriving in Bermuda.
We have direct imported product arriving in containers on all three container ships that come to Bermuda.
The spokesman said that fresh bananas were still not available, but that frozen sliced bananas were.
Zach Moniz, the manager of the Lindos Group, said that shelves and stockrooms were healthy.
He added: There is some variety impacted, but in general we have mostly everything that people want.
There will be things that do go in and out of stock as supply and demand in the United States dictates, but we are meeting those challenges with other options right now.
Mr Moniz said that he expected another busy week in the store.
He explained that people in the first half of the alphabet only had two days to shop last week because of Good Friday.
But he added: Things are running smoothly and everyone appears to be on board and compliant with what we are requiring of them.
William Cox, the president of The Waterfront Group that includes Miles Market in Pembroke, said that stocks at the store were strong.
He added that Bermuda had fared well over the Covid-19 crisis so far due to the co-operation between wholesales, retailers and our network of suppliers across the world.
Mr Cox said: It would have been a very different situation, if Bermuda did not have the inventory already located on Island and utilised just in time delivery, as many countries do.
This has been a good test of what has concerned many of us for years.
He added that there had been a shortage of chicken across North America, but that the supply chain was resolved.
But he warned that some European products may be in shortage from time to time.
