Shropshire shopping streets still busy despite Covid Christmas confusion
Despite thousands of people seeing Christmas plans cancelled or thrown into disarray, many have still been out grabbing last-minute gifts.
Although not on the scale of the usual run-up to Christmas, Shrewsbury and Telford town centres have both been busy with people looking to make sure they have everything ready for Christmas Day.
It comes as people from Mid Wales, who would normally cross the border for Christmas shopping, are no longer allowed to travel due to the country being placed in Tier 4.
Meanwhile, shoppers have been urged not to panic buy, with the reassurance that there is plenty to go around for Christmas.
Concerns about the closure of ports and the prospect of a national lockdown in the new year has led to fears that people will again start stripping the shelves bare of essentials.
Long queues have been reported outside large superstores across the region as the usual pre-Christmas rush is given an extra urgency among some shoppers.
Tesco was among the big stores saying it had plenty of food for Christmas as it encouraged customers to “shop as normal”.
“We’ve been building our stockholding of key products ahead of the Christmas peak and are working closely with our hauliers and suppliers to continue the supply of goods into our stores,” a statement said.
“We’re doing everything we can to limit the impact for our customers.”
The big stores have warned of possible issues with fresh produce after Christmas, with lettuce, cauliflower and citrus fruit among items that could run short.
Sainsbury’s said that while Christmas dinner essentials are in good supply, salad and greens are being potentially disrupted by the problems bringing in goods from the continent.
A spokesman said: “All products for the great British Christmas lunch are already in the country and we have plenty of these. We are also sourcing everything we can from the UK and looking into alternative transport for product sourced from Europe.
“If nothing changes we will start to see gaps over the coming days on lettuce, salad leaves, cauliflowers, broccoli, citrus fruit – all of which are imported from EU at this time of year. We hope UK and French governments can come to a solution that prioritises the continued passage of produce and food.”
James Lowman, chief executive of the Association of Convenience Stores insisted: “Key items are not affected and we are not facing any challenges.”
