Shoppers stock up on winter essentials

Commodities to stave off the adverse affects of snow and freezing temperatures have been literally flying off store shelves.

Over the past three weeks at the Asda stores in Ballyclare and Shore Road, and indeed Asdas across the country, purchases of 25kg bags of grit were up 32 per cent; George thermal underwear by 1,000 per cent; cat litter up 55 per cent - with it being used as a substitute for grit; fire logs up to by 71 per cent; vacuum flasks by 129 per cent and hot water bottles by 75 per cent.

Asda also reported a massive surge in home shopping.

"Demand for home shopping as a whole in Northern Ireland has increased massively compared to this time last year, which indicates a lot of poeple are staying indoors," said a spokesperson for Asda.

"Of the products mentioned as selling well by local stores were potatoes and stewing meat, indicating that Northern Ireland people are turning to warming comfort foods to brave the cold!"

At Woodsides in Ballyclare, there was a huge run on table salt, with the store having run out. Supervisor Shirley Boyd said customers were purchasing salt to spread on their driveways and in backyards to help melt snow and ice and prevent re-freezing .

"We are clean out of table salt and have been since after the Christmas holidays. It's unlikely that we will get any more in at the present time as our supplier simply cannot meet demand and we have a notice up on the salt shelves to let people know,” said Shirley.

"The only salt we have left is Lo Salt, and that's probably because it is twice the price of ordinary," said Shirley.

"Ice melt has sold out and there has been a big demand for hot water bottles as well. We also had a promotion in-store for electric blankets and while we didn’t have a huge number of them they too have all been snapped up.

"We've also noticed that tins of soup have been selling more than usual. Customers must be wanting something warming to eat in this cold weather."

At MW Tyres in Ballyclare, owner Michael Workman said the garage had noticed a significant increase in business on tyres and car batteries.

"We've had a run on tyres here, with customers wanting their 'baldy' tyres changed to better withstand the weather conditions, so we've been busy fitting a lot of new tyres on vehicles. Batteries too have been selling well."

At Kwik-Fit in Glengormley, Sam Smith also reported a surge in demand for car batteries and tyres, and help with frozen wiper wash.