Group lets stores, pharmacy remain open to serve customers

By PETER ESILA
ALL City Pharmacy and Stop & Shop outlets will remain open every day with normal trading hours, says City Pharmacy Ltd managing director Mahesh Patel.
Patel said the CPL group had enough stock for its customers to last the Covid-9 crisis.
“We have enough stock for most basic food items up for a three-month cover,” he said.
“So no need to panic-buy.
“If the shelves seem empty, it’s only temporary until the delivery comes from our warehouse.”
Patel said Stop & Shop in partnership with GoFood provided home deliveries which had been going for a year now. “We out source this service to a company called GoFood who charges between K25 to K40 depending on the area,” he said. “The service is available only in Port Moresby.
“We are just reminding people of the service.
“We have continuous deliveries coming into our warehouse and then into stores. It’s business as usual for most items in the supermarket.
“The biggest issues are in the pharmaceuticals which are imported.
“Prices have gone up overseas due to the huge global demand.
“The other factor is that due to its urgency, it needs to be air freighted, which adds substantial costs, not only to bring it into the country, but then to airfreight it out to our outstation branches.
“We have contingency plans for some key staff working from home or off-site.
“We have increased our orders for basic food lines and have multiple deliveries to our stores.”