Retailers losing thousands, forced to Storm blackouts in SA towns force pharmacists, butchers to keep their cool

Power outages are still plaguing SA regional towns days after wild storms swept through, with some retailers resorting to desperate tactics.

• Early forecast: Adelaide’s Xmas weather

A weekend of wild wet weather has left regional businesses scrambling to keep their perishable goods from spoiling in the lead up to the festive season.

More than 100,000 lighting strikes across the states skies have left thousands of customers without power – including schools.

Zak Gadalla, owner of the local pharmacy in the Adelaide Plains town of Dublin, said after continuing to lose power at the weekend, he moved his expensive perishable medicines to the fridge of the general store next door.

“I took the expensive medicine, like Ozempic, over and asked to keep it in his cold room,” Mr Gadalla said.

Dublin Pharmacy owner Zak Gadalla storing his supply of Ozempic in the general store fridge when the power in Dublin went out. Picture: Kelly Barnes

Power outages in SA's regionals towns as of 11.30am, December 13, 2023.

“I kept it there for two days, they have generators to keep the shop running so they don’t lose their stock too. It’s in demand and there is a shortage of it.”

Despite having an alternative option to keep his perishable medicines from spoiling, Mr Gadalla had to close his store after the power went out on Friday, and again on Monday.

“That’s the biggest lost, for me and for my customers” the pharmacist said.

Michael Tussell, owner of the general store said after being in business for more than 13 years and experiencing countless summer blackouts, he has learned from his past mistakes.

“I invested money into generators to make sure nothing had to go to waste when the power eventually goes out,” Mr Tussell said.

Dublin General store owner Michael Tussell with the generators he used to keep his shop open when the power in Dublin was out after the storms. Picture: Kelly Barnes

A few hours north in Booleroo, the local butcher is fighting to keep more than $30,000 of quality meat from spoiling.

“I had to cram it all in to two fridges,” Booleroo Meat Centre owner Will Frick said.

“I had to turn away another delivery of meat today because I would have lost it.”

The lead up to the holidays is the busiest time for the butcher, with the preparation of orders for Christmas dinners, but now power outages could make it the most expensive period too.

“It’s a joke … I’ve had to spend $300 alone on petrol just to keep the generator for the fridge,” Mr Frick said.

Dublin Pharmacy owner Zak Gadalla is storing his supply of the drug Ozempic in the general store’s fridge. Picture: Kelly Barnes

“I’m now off to spend another $8000 to help save the meat.”

Mr Frick also said that needing to close due to the blackouts had cost him between $10,000 – $15,000 in over the counter sales.

Owner of the Booleroo IGA and Australia Post branch, Paula Hanisch, IGA has also suffered due to power surges and outages caused by the storm.

The IGA’s fridges were unable to operate at full capacity and products were taken to the back cold rooms to avoid them spoiling during the intermittent blackouts on Friday, Monday and Tuesday.

Booleroo Centre's IGA operator Paula Hanisch has had to put up signs to notify her customers that the recent summer storms have limited their ability to keep their fridges running. Picture: Paula Hanisch

“There has been a lot of pressure on the fridges,” Ms Hanisch said.

While the IGA has been lucky to avoid their stock spoiling, but the Post office has been forced to close for three full days of trading.

“It’s thousands of dollars of transactions we can’t process … and we don’t even know when it will be coming back,” the 47-year-old said.

Ms Hanisch said that customers come from outside of the town to drop off their parcels and letters, and Christmas trading is when it’s busiest for the shop.

“We could have had a busy day … but we had to keep turning everyone away.”