The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

THE impending arrival of Hurricane Matthew has resulted in an uptick in sales and customer traffic in several local food stores, with one storeowner saying this past weekend’s hurricane preparedness shopping rush was “rough like Christmas.”

Rupert Roberts, Super Value’s owner and president, told The Tribune that his business had seen a massive surge in customer traffic as residents scrambled to secure goods in preparation for the arrival of the category four storm. His statements were echoed by representatives from other food stores and water sales depots.

Matthew, a category four storm, is expected to begin affecting parts of the Bahamas today before leaving the country on Friday.

The Tribune observed high volumes of customer traffic in several grocery stores throughout the capital – particularly on Saturday and then again on Sunday, as residents sought to prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Matthew.

“Saturday was rough like Christmas and Sunday was busy, and I imagine today and Tuesday will be the same,” Mr Roberts told The Tribune when contacted yesterday. “They were shopping Friday afternoon, it was very rushed on Saturday and Sunday and I imagine that they will be picking up their odds and ends and finishing their shopping today and tomorrow so that they’ll be ready.”

When asked if his chain of stores plans to stay open later than usual over the next 36 hours to accommodate the increased customer traffic, Mr Roberts said it all depends on the weather and if his employees might face any difficulties in returning to their respective homes.

“…We will stay open as long as we can give our staff a safe passage home,” he said. “Once we decide that our staff need that safety to get home, we have to, whether we’re busy or not, we close to let our staff get home safely.”

Lauren Wong, operations manager of Chelsea’s Choice Water, said yesterday was the busiest day Chelsea’s Choice has had since news of Hurricane Matthew’s pending arrival broke. She said customers were present at the Abundant Life Road warehouse since 5am yesterday - two hours before operations commenced.

When The Tribune arrived at Chelsea’s Choice around midday yesterday, a queue of what officials estimated to be about 60 cars could be seen extending from the company’s parking lot. That number continued to increase even after The Tribune left.

However, Ms Wong said the company did not face any difficulties in serving all of its customers.

“We as a company, historically always have reserves for incidents and events like these, so we’re not really shuffling around or inundated with orders from customers,” she said. “So in terms of our preparedness, internally we try to make sure we have sufficient reserves for the demand that comes with natural disasters like this, so hopefully it won’t be too bad.”

Shane Stubbs, general manager of Meat Max & Groceries on Carmichael Road, said while the past few days have been busy, Saturday night and Sunday were the busiest of all.

“Saturday was busy, but Sunday was crazy,” he said. “From we opened until we closed. We were opened up pretty late. We normally close about 6.45pm, but we closed about 7.30, quarter to 8. So we were busy straight through, all day Sunday.”

When asked what the company plans to do over the next 36 hours as the storm nears, he said: “We’re trying to stay open as late as possible to accommodate our customers.”

Meanwhile, officials at Courtesy Supermarkets said they have not experienced the heavy volume of customer traffic like their counterparts, but said that would likely change over the next 24 hours.

“Things are pretty much at a normal pace,” one store manager said. “People aren’t really reacting as yet. I guess everybody is still waiting to see if the storm is actually going to come here or not.”

According to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Matthew is expected to bring severe flooding and heavy rainfall.

Residents in Inagua, Mayaguana, Crooked Island, Acklins, Ragged Island, Long Cay, Samana Cay are expected to feel effects from the hurricane today.

Hurricane conditions are expected in Long Island, Cat Island, Rum Cay, San Salvador, and the Exumas between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. New Providence is expected to feel storm conditions Wednesday afternoon.

On the forecasted track, the centre of Matthew is expected to move near eastern Cuba late today and move near or over portions of the southeast and Central Bahamas tonight and Wednesday.