Pharmacists are racing to source more hand sanitiser and face masks after panicked shoppers have stripped Hackney’s shelves.
Boots, Clockwork and Marijak Pharmacy on Mare Street had all run out of the items on Tuesday afternoon, with some staff admitting that they had no idea when they will receive more stock. The Mare Street Iceland did have a small stock of hand sanitisers, but had run out of antibacterial wipes.
At Marijak Pharmacy on Mare Street, the pharmacist said that “almost every customer” comes in asking for hand sanitiser.
She said that the store has been completely out of hand sanitiser for about three weeks, and out of face masks for about a month.
“The other thing that makes it worse is we don’t know when we’ll be able to get them back in,” she told Hackney Post. “It’s really challenging at the moment”.
She said that before the store ran out, she saw a rise in customers stockpiling. “It’s three, four lots in one go,” she said. “It’s definitely bulk”.
On Tuesday the government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance urged shoppers to stop stockpiling supplies like hand sanitiser and pasta. “There is absolutely no reason to be doing any panic buying of any sort or going out and keeping large supplies of things,” he said.
A cashier at Boots Pharmacy on Mare Street said that the shortages were “totally crazy”. “We put them out at 9 and by about 9:30 we’re all out”, she said. “It’s been like that for a week.”
The store has started limiting the sale of hand sanitizer to combat the rising demand, with staff holding back items from their Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning deliveries to sell during the rest of the week.
Figures from the market research firm Kantar show that sales of hand sanitiser tripled in February compared with the same month last year, as customers rush to protect themselves from the virus.
One of the effects of this bulk buying is the rise of extortionate resale prices.
The pharmacy technician at Clockwork Pharmacy, Mare Street, said: “If you look at the price on eBay, which I was doing this morning, 29 ml – which is pretty much nothing – is selling for £7.95… and usually that would cost 50p to £1”.
He said that shoppers are so desperate to get their hands on the items that “people aren’t bothered about the prices at all”. He assured Hackney Post that neither Clockwork Pharmacy nor their distributors were raising their prices to profit from the panic.
“We can’t let this affect our businesses,” he said. “We are trying our very best to make sure we have the supplies but at the same time not overcharge people… that’s the main thing.”
Like most UK pharmacies, Hackney’s Clockwork Pharmacies have three or four main suppliers for hand gels. But with demand increasing at such an alarming rate they have had to resort to their third-party suppliers in recent months.
The NHS says that hand sanitiser gel can be used when soap and water are not available, but that washing your hands is a key part of preventing the spread of viruses.
