'Join the line first, find out later what's on sale'

Queues were seen outside shops selling items from face masks to disinfectants, but some people didn't even know what they were waiting to get their hands on. Photo: RTHK

A delivery man bringing fresh supplies of rice is surrounded by people waiting to snap them up. Photo: RTHK

People buying large amounts of essential items and long queues outside some shops continued in Hong Kong on Thursday, with some people joining queues without even knowing what was being sold.



In Western district, a long queue of people were outside a pharmacy in the afternoon. But an RTHK reporter found that a couple of them did not know what the store was selling.



Better just join the queue first, one man was heard saying. But the people at the front of the queue said the shop was going to sell face masks made in South Korea.



When asked, the shop assistants said they were expecting to get some face masks, but had no idea when.



Surgical masks continued to be a much sought after item and at some pharmacies staff had started greeting customers by warning them that they had none in stock.



Some quick-witted property sales agents caught onto the shortage, and were offering free face masks to potential home-buyers.



Some were offering a free mask for potential clients who visited a flat on sale, while other firms offered up to 300 masks to those buying a property through them.



One agent even claimed that an owner was selling his flat just to be able to purchase face masks.



Meanwhile, some people swooped in on rice stocks wherever they were available, despite the government and traders saying there are enough stocks in the city to go around.



At one shop, a man delivering a cart full of rice to the shelves was followed by a group of people. One man who bought two packets was not very pleased with the price. “I’ve never eaten rice that’s so expensive”, he said as he dished out HK$200.



Long queues were also seen for disinfectant and toilet rolls. At a Quarry Bay shop, the sight of toilet rolls being delivered suddenly drew a crowd of about 50 people.