Shanghai lockdown: fridges, freezers in high demand as stockpiling food becomes priority among residents
- The people of Shanghai are struggling to find enough food and basic necessities to survive after two weeks under a city wide lockdown
- Sales of fridges and freezers have jumped by almost 50 per cent compared to last year
A man with the alias Qin Yi who lives in the same residential compound in Pudong District as the fridge buyers said one of his neighbours bought a freezer after parts of his old fridge broke and another neighbour bought the freezer thinking the old fridge was too small to contain the meat and beef he had bought in the past days through the community’s buying groups, business news app Time Weekly reports.
Qin, who is not among those buyers, said there is a side-by-side refrigerator, with a volume of over 300 litres, in his home and it is full of food that can support his family for three to four days.
“Buying a fridge is not related to whether you are rich or poor, and your house’s price is also not related to the size of your fridges,” he said.
A woman surnamed Meng living in another community said some of her neighbours had just made a joint buying order for fridges because they were concerned that the lockdown will last for a long time.
“What’s more, they said food package deliveries pose risks of spreading the virus. To reduce the time to go outside to pick up the packages, a reasonable way is to [buy more at a time and] expand the size of your fridge,” she said.
