Rather than attracting throngs of shoppers from Penticton and Okanagan Falls, the five-week dispute has caused frustration and shortages at Oliver's Giant Foods and SuperValu. We're seeing more shortages on orders because smaller retailers are ordering more. Harrop said the Langley warehouse that supplies the majority of his groceries is now working 24 hours a day, seven days a week to keep up with demand. But shortages of some items has caused frustration for the store manager. Norm Houle, manager of SuperValu, has faced a similar situation.
Suppliers are a big problem.
We're drawing from a warehouse in Vancouver that all the SuperValu, Extra Food and Super Stores in B.C. use. Obviously stores in the larger centres are doing two, three, four times the volume of normal and that's taxing the wholesale warehouse. In some cases, we're ordering 10 cases of something and getting nothing. Shorts are now running between 20 and 30 per cent, he added. Most noticeably for customers has been a shortage of cultured dairy goods.