newsletters, editors-pick-list, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Shopping tourists, Gundagai, No food, Foodworks, Adelong, Wagga

Supermarkets in the Riverina have been "busier than Christmas", swamped in part by shoppers travelling from major cities to buy supplies in smaller towns. Gundagai, which sits on the Hume Highway, has been particularly affected by "shopping tourists" stopping on their way between Melbourne and Sydney. Nav Singh, who owns the Gundagai Foodworks said in the last two weeks he had started putting food and supplies aside for locals. "At this stage you can say people are panicking about everything, because initially it was toilet paper and now it is everything," Mr Singh said. "We have the local staff, we have the regular customers ... with the local people, everyone knows us. We know everyone." The store has seen people coming in and buying "a trolley to a trolley-and-a-half" full of goods, which is "a lot in a country town". After Mr Singh implemented a 'one toilet roll per customer' rule, he noticed travellers coming in multiple times in attempts to buy more, until eventually he "had to refuse". Kerry, who lives near Gundagai and did not wish to give her last name, has been trying to shop for her husband who has been living with a disability since suffering a stroke. She has been unable to buy what she needs to care for him. "I haven't been panic buying, I just buy my normal stuff. And I haven't been able to get my normal stuff," Kerry said. "I don't know when this is all going to end ... We've heard of the people coming from Melbourne and Canberra to buy stuff and it's terribly unfair." Katrina Camin, who works at Foodworks in The Rock said "out-of-towners" had bought so much toilet paper the store had put a limit on the amount allowed for non-locals. "We may have to extend that to other areas in the store," Ms Camin said. A staff member at the Coolamon Foodworks said shoppers had been driving "all the way" from Canberra because they couldn't get what they needed at home. In Adelong, at the Foodworks, items are still being sold on a "first come, first served basis". Owner Sam Bharbwaj, who moved to the tiny town from Melbourne himself five years ago, said he had put limits on some essential items "There have been out-of-town people coming in to try to buy items. These items are not being restricted to just residents," Mr Bharbwaj said. "Adelong residents have been considerate and polite and understanding of the restrictions." READ MORE:

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