Photos: Sergio Betancort
Several supermarkets in Lanzarote have been offering an unusual image since this Thursday with full carts, some empty shelves and long queues to pay, which had already been experienced throughout the week in other parts of the country as a result of the coronavirus. This Friday, even, according to citizens told La Voz, at the Mercadona in Argana, people were already waiting at the doors of the establishment before it opened its doors.
For his part, the sales manager of Supermercados Marcial, Rubén González, has made a call for calm on Radio Lanzarote - Onda Cero, stating that "there is total normality in the supply chain" and that they have "logistical warehouses that guarantee supply".
However, the fear of many citizens is what is leading to these scenes in the island's supermarkets, which began to be noticed on Tuesday, skyrocketing this Thursday and causing the shelves of some products to be empty at certain times. In the Mercadona in Valterra, as La Voz was able to verify, many products such as water, fruit and vegetables, meat, eggs or rice were sold out this Thursday or about to be. The shopping carts full of purchases for home delivery were also piled up at the entrance of the establishment.
Image taken at the Hiperdino in Valterra
Also in the Hiperdino in Valterra there were many citizens who were making large purchases this Thursday. However, in this case, there were no problems finding any type of product. Thus, there were citizens who, given the lack of products in Mercadona, chose to go to this supermarket to be able to make their purchase.
According to employees explained to La Voz, the difference that in some supermarkets the shelves were empty and in others not lies in the fact that some replenish the products only first thing in the morning and others do so throughout the day. However, the long queues to pay were repeated in all of them.
