Scenes of panic buying have again returned to South East Queensland ahead of second lockdown of 2021 for Greater Brisbane.
The retail rush comes as both Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Health Minister Yvette D'Ath have pleaded with shoppers not to trip shelves.
All too familiar scenes have been posted across social media, showing Woolworths, Coles and Aldi stories packed with shoppers but completely stripped bare of items like toilet paper, canned items and milk.
The three-day lockdown starts at 5pm today.
https://twitter.com/ShannonMM9/status/1376353304754544642Hamilton, New Farm, North Lakes and Chermside are reported to be panic buying hotspots.
One Woolworths employee on Brisbane's north side told 9News that their stock of toilet paper "had disappeared in 30 minutes" early this morning following the lockdown announcement.
Woolworths have also reinstated product limits across greater Brisbane as a response to a "spike in demand" in certain items, the limits being put in place to ensure "customers have fair access to essential products.
https://twitter.com/AnnastaciaMP/status/1376317799056859137https://twitter.com/YvetteDAth/status/1376348802580312069"We understand this will be an unsettling time for many Queenslanders, but we want to reassure customers we will remain open as an essential service," Woolworths General Manager for Queensland, Chris Peters, said.
"We have continued access to stock from our suppliers and our team will be hard at work making sure it flows from our distribution centres into our stores over the coming days.
"We encourage Queenslanders to continue shopping as they usually would and to be mindful of others in the community."
The frantic scenes have also triggered tweets from Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Health Minister Yvette D'Ath pleading with South East Queenslanders to "please stop".
"Please don't rush out and panic buy. The supermarkets are full of supplies and will operate as per usual. Groceries and essentials will still be available while we're in lockdown." Premier Palaszczuk tweeted out.
"I am seeing reports of huge lines at our supermarkets with people stocking up on supplies - THIS IS NOT REQUIRED. PLEASE STOP!" Minister D'ath tweeted.
