KNYSNA NEWS - As bottle stores reopened around the country, Knysna residents flocked to stores two hours early and in numbers to get their hands on alcohol for the first time since lockdown started two months ago.
When lockdown officially started on 26 March around the country, a ban on the purchase of alcohol was put in place from the onset, and continued throughout Levels 4 and 5.
There had initially been talk of alcohol sales being reopened, but this was not meant to be, and residents had to continue their wait to legally purchase alcohol again.
Their relief finally came when Level 3 was announced by president Cyril Ramaphosa on 24 May, with the limited sale of alcohol permitted at liquor stores and off-site consumption for bars, taverns, and other establishments.
The sale of alcohol is only allowed between 09:00 and 17:00 from Mondays to Thursdays, with no alcohol sales permitted on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays.
Pick n Pay will only be permitting 18 customers into its store at any given time, Checkers Liquor will only allow 20 customers, and Tops! at Spar lets 15 customers in at a time.
Queues at Pick n Pay and Tops! were the longer of the three, with roughly 50 people queuing to get into the stores when they opened after lining up since 07:00 at PnP on Monday morning. At some stores, a few customers were not pleased to learn that pensioners would not be given preference over other customers to make their purchases first, despite that being the case at the main stores for grocery shopping. They were also not appeased with the answers they received from store managers, who explained that groceries and food items are essential, while alcohol is not, and therefore pensioners would have to queue as normal with other customers.
Pick n Pay customers formed a long line outside the store. Photo: Blake Linder
Pick n Pay customers queue right up to the parking lot on Monday. Photo: Blake Linder
Pick n Pay customers queue outside the store prior to the first day of reopening on Monday 1 June. Photo: Blake Linder
Pick n Pay customers formed a long line outside the store. Photo: Blake Linder
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