Irish supermarkets have experienced an increase in demand for bread, milk, and other essential grocery items, as Storm Emma hits the country.
Ireland is currently facing sub-zero temperatures with heavy snowfall in certain parts of the country, which is set to last for the rest of the week.
These conditions have led to a number of disruptions, however, social media has been filled with images of empty supermarket shelves as customers stock up on essentials.
Shoppers noted that bread, in particular, was becoming difficult to find.
Bread shelves looking bare in Tullow, must be bad weather coming😂
On a serious note though it’s good to see people taking notice of the weather warnings pic.twitter.com/1nUxhLEelo— Carlow Weather (@CarlowWeather) February 26, 2018
Tesco, Dundrum.
Don’t worry artisan sourdough, your time will come#snow #weather #BeastFromTheEast pic.twitter.com/D4IJ0dFMxI— Stephen Murphy (@SMurphyTV) February 26, 2018
I honestly thought people were exaggerating but this is my local SV bread shelves 🤣 #beastfromtheeast pic.twitter.com/WawuCV2Dan
— Margaret Griffin (@foodborn) February 27, 2018
Increasing Supplies
Tesco Ireland says that it is working with its suppliers to ensure that extra grocery essentials will be available across the week for customers who want to stock up ahead of the bad weather.
Over 400,000 cases were delivered to Tesco's 149 stores across the country in 260 deliveries on Monday night, with additional deliveries yesterday and today.
The retailer says that it has increased the availability of core grocery essentials, including 20% more bread, 10% more milk, and extra fresh food and fuel.
“Our teams are working around the clock to ensure that stock reaches our stores to help customers prepare for the bad weather ahead and we will have good availability of stock throughout the week," said Christine Heffernan, corporate affairs director at Tesco Ireland.
"We’re doing everything we can to ensure that stocks of fresh produce, bread and milk with deliveries planned for each day.”
Discount retailers Lidl and Aldi also took to social media to reassure customers that they are increasing deliveries.
Due to customers preparing for #BeastFromTheEast and #StormEmma we have experienced higher than normal sales in many of our stores on some key lines, resulting in some items being out of stock.
Good news is, we have increased deliveries ahead of opening for business tomorrow!— Lidl Ireland (@lidl_ireland) February 27, 2018
We have seen huge demand as people prepare for #BeastFromTheEast. All our 130 stores are receiving fresh deliveries of bread, meat, milk and fruit and vegetables every day and our store teams are busy serving customers and replenishing our shelves as quickly as possible.
— Aldi Ireland (@Aldi_Ireland) February 27, 2018
Have no fear.. the bread man is here @Tesco @rtenews #snow #StormEmma pic.twitter.com/hymlO0mkTr
— Sharon Tobin (@sharontobin) February 27, 2018
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Sarah Harford. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
