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Barriere AG Foods expect store back to normal by weekend

Keeping shelves stocked has been a challenge for grocery stores due to B.C. highway closures
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The dairy department at Barriere AG Foods was just about the most popular place in town when a number of highways were closed in the province due to flooding and landslides on Monday, Nov. 15. Not being able to bring in regular shipments of milk, bread and produce on a timely basis resulted in a higher demand than usual from consumers, leaving grocery stores scrambling to keep their shelves filled. (Jill Hayward photo)

Barriere AG Foods owner/manager Ivan Lee says his store should be right back up to par by this weekend.

Although Lee can’t guarantee exactly what will be on the delivery truck this Saturday, he’s hoping “all that was ordered will arrive”.

The storm that roared through B.C. on Nov. 14 -15 resulted in key artery supply highways being closed due to the unprecedented flooding and landslides in the southern part of the province. Lee says as a result his store was running about one day behind on receiving what they had ordered, and on Monday, Nov. 15, it was crazy inside the store, with milk instantly in demand.

The majority of products impacted by lack of transportation to the store were produce, bread and milk.

“Those are the three big ones that come to us from the coast,” said Lee, “All the rest of our supplies we’ve been lucky in being able to pull from Associated Grocers out of Calgary who still had a lot of produce.”

Was there hoarding happening with some of the shoppers?

“Yes, I think there was a little bit,” said Lee, “A couple of people took four jugs of milk and such, but we kind of backed them off. There’s only so many Dairyland drivers around, and right now those drivers look like they are worn right out. We considered ourselves lucky if we got two orders of milk a week.”

Lee pointed out Blackwell Dairy also supplies his store, adding, “Blackwell is what’s keeping us surviving right now. We’ve tried really hard to keep the store stocked, and we pulled all our favours as much as we could. Hopefully by the end of the week the store should be back to normal.”

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