As the UK continues to shiver in Arctic winds and battle snow drifts as deep as 14 feet in parts, retailers and wholesalers have gone above and beyond the call of duty to keep the nation fed and watered.
The Grocer has been inundated with tales of heroism from dedicated store staff.
On the Isle of Arran, one of the areas hardest hit by the weather and resulting power cuts, staff at two of The Co-operative Group’s three stores there wore miners-style headgear equipped with torches so they could fetch items while shoppers waited in the doorway. They also used calculators to work out shopping bills.
“The efforts of our colleagues in stores, and of those who ensure deliveries reach them to keep shelves stocked, have been fabulous” - Sean Toal, Co-op
On Scotland’s Kintyre peninsula, snowdrifts meant the town of Campbeltown was cut off. But the Co-op’s store there continued trading after its delivery vehicle travelled on board a ferry chartered by the local council to get much-needed supplies to the town.
With a store in every postcode, the Co-op Group couldn’t escape the snow. It chartered a Hercules aircraft to fly supplies to its 10 stores on the Isle of Man after severe weather prevented the scheduled ferry service from operating.
And in Wales, Clwyd Davies, the manager of the Co-op’s Llangollen store, set up home in a local B&B when his car was buried in snow in the store car park. In Sheffield, meanwhile, Dawn Roebuck from the society’s High Green store helped lay grit and dig out delivery vehicles - and even two buses - which had become stuck in snow.
“The efforts of our colleagues in stores, and of those who ensure deliveries reach them to keep shelves stocked, have been fabulous, and is a great illustration of what is so special about The Co-operative,” said Co-op Group chief operating officer Sean Toal.
People stranded
Fellow co-op society Scotmid, which has around 190 food stores across Scotland, was also badly hit, but its staff rallied round to keep stores operating.
“The last time we had snow like this was 1963,” said Nicola Waters, manager of Scotmid’s Ballantrae store (the road to Ballantrae is pictured above).
“Ballantrae is on the road to Stranraer, where people catch the ferry to Northern Ireland, but at about 4pm the road was closed in both directions, so there were lots of people stranded here overnight.
“I’m really proud of my team - the efforts my staff went to to come to work and help the community were incredible” - Nicola Waters, Scotmid Ballantrae
“There were about 170 people sleeping in the community centre, another 170 or so in the hotel, and the B&B was full too, so lots of people had to sleep in their cars and on the coaches. Scotmid is the only food store in town and we managed to stay open, so we had everyone coming in to get food.”
Two members of staff decided to make soup for the people in the community centre, and after a Facebook appeal for help, they served soup from 11.30pm to 3.30am, Waters said.
“I’m really proud of my team - the efforts my staff went to to come to work and help the community were incredible. We even had one staff member’s husband bring her to work in a tractor so she could help out in the store,” she added.
There was a similar story at Scotmid’s Castle Douglas store, which continued trading despite a foot-and-a-half of snow outside and its milk and fruit & veg deliveries being unable to reach it.
“Scotmid was the only store open in the whole of our street in Castle Douglas,” said manager Marion Docherty. “Our team have been fantastic and have worked so hard to keep the shop open. Some of the staff who live outside Castle Douglas weren’t able to get in, so one of our team members who was on holiday even came in so we could stay open.”
Life-saving achievement
Front-line staff showed just as much determination and bravery away from work. Catherine Pickering (below, right), a team leader at Sainsbury’s Chester, was congratulated by her colleagues after saving the life of a man buried in a snow drift.
She discovered the man in the early hours of Sunday morning and brought him into her home, called for an ambulance and slowly began to warm him up by the fire.
“The paramedics said that another 30 minutes in the snow he would have died. He was so cold that they took his temperature and the machine wouldn’t give a reading – I couldn’t believe it. I did what anyone else would have done and I have heard he is recovering well.”
Challenging conditions
Out on the roads, wholesalers braved treacherous conditions to get supplies through.
Smiths News, the UK’s biggest newspaper and magazine distributor, said the last few days had been “challenging” but nearly all deliveries had made it to their destinations.
“We did manage to complete all of our distribution routes with only a couple to our most remote and inaccessible customers being unreachable” - Smiths News
“In some cases, our distribution centres carried out different runs to complete customer deliveries,” a spokeswoman explained. “We did manage to complete all of our distribution routes with only a couple to our most remote and inaccessible customers being unreachable.”
Retail buying group Nisa revealed only 5.3% of its deliveries last Saturday could not be completed because ferries were not operating or the police had closed roads. However, they all made it through the following day.
“The most important aspect in adverse weather conditions is communication so the independent retailer is kept fully informed as to progress,” said Nisa distribution director Jonathan Stowe. “Nisa has recently invested heavily in this area and in conjunction with its distribution partner DHL has installed live time tracking on all the distribution fleet – including Nisa trailers being hauled by contractors.
“The department handled more than 400 phone calls over the weekend and were able to ensure that Nisa members received accurate and timely information regarding the weather impact on their delivery.”
Comfort foods
Shoppers that could make it to stores stocked up on comfort foods, retailers said.
Waitrose reported vegetable sales up 28.6%, with root veg up 30% and potatoes up 42% on the week before. Custard sales rose 80%, chilled soup by 60% and canned soup by 38%.
It was in stark contrast to this time last year when Waitrose reported booming BBQ sales as the nation sweltered in a mini heatwave.
Separately, Waitrose said it would be sending out 30,000 jackets for lambs in the freezing weather.
Meanwhile, Marks & Spencer says it has defied the conditions to bring out an early version of the English asparagus - the first this year.
Have you got a snow story? Contact Beth Phillips on beth.phillips@thegrocer.co.uk or submit your comment below.
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