Hyderabad: Coronavirus Panic buying by people?

Hyderabad: While most of the companies adopting a staggered approach of work from home due to the ongoing coronavirus scare, supermarkets in the city witnessed a surge in sales as many rushed to stock up for the quarantine phase.

Major supermarkets like Ratnadeep and Heritage fresh and Ushodaya witness a rise in demand for non-perishable edibles like rice, pulses, lentils, flour and cooking oil in the past three days. "The sales have surged up to 20 per cent in the last three days, people are seen rushing in to stock up their supplies" said Vijay, Store Manager, Ratnadeep Super Market, AS Rao Nagar.

Krishnaveni store manager of Heritage Fresh in Sri Nagar Colony informed the sales doubled in the last two days "Every day our sales are anywhere around Rs 2 to 2.5 Lakhs on Thursday it was doubled up to Rs 4 Lakhs."

Addressing the same the store managers have instructed their employees to take proper safety measures by keeping cleanliness around the store and at regular intervals, the security desk at these stores has hand sanitizers for customers to use. Where on the other hand supermarkets like Reliance fresh, Spencers wore a deserted look as their sales have dipped up to 20 to 40 per cent due to coronavirus scare.

"The footfall has come down over last week, earlier the store use to witness 700 to 800 customers every day which has now come down to 450 to 500," says Surya, Store Manager of Reliance Fresh in Ameerpet. Ali the store supervisor from Spencers SR Nagar shares their store also use to witness 700 customers on a daily basis but after the pandemic scare it has come down to 400.