1 April, 2020

Locals stock up on last-minute ‘essentials’

Fine wine and freshly roasted coffee beans were among products Milford and Takapuna residents were panic-buying as lockdown loomed. 

Queues stretched down the street outside Meebz Coffee Roasters in Milford all morning after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the level-four lockdown, which has closed businesses and confined residents to their homes. 

“We are usually busy, but nothing like today, with lines out the door,” Meebz owner Michael Tan said last Tuesday. 

The most popular product was beans, but people were also stocking up on ground coffee for plunger, filter or stovetop use. 

“People can’t live with bad coffee for four weeks,” Tan said. 

The closedown will have a huge impact on the business. Half its income comes from selling beans to cafes, which have also closed, and the other half from shop sales. 

Nearby, at Glengarry’s Takapuna, store manager Dylan Lydford said it was busier than at Christmas, with people stocking up on all types of alcohol.

This article originally appeared in the 3 April 2020 edition of the Rangitoto Observer.

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