A regional supermarket has hired bouncers to check customers for proof they are locals in a desperate bid to block the hordes of shelf-raiding panic buyers streaming in from Melbourne and other centres.

David Williamson, whose family has run Williamson's Foodworks in Gisborne for more than four decades, said there were so many people coming to the town's three supermarkets that the roads were clogged and it was near impossible to find a park.

Williamson’s Foodworks in Gisborne has implemented new store trading hours to combat ‘tourist shopping’. Credit:Paul Rovere

Mr Williamson has now implemented a 9am to 10am shopping window during which elderly customers can gain priority access to shelves so long as they show security their store-issued rewards cards and pensioner or disability cards.

From 10am to 12pm, customers must show their rewards cards to prove they are local residents.