Priceline scores 30-fold spike in face mask sales

Struggling pharmacies in Melbourne’s CBD have been a major beneficiary from Daniel Andrews’s face mask rule.

A woman wearing a face mask walks through the city on July 20, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia. Picture: Getty Images

Australian Pharmaceutical Industries has experienced a 30-fold increase in face masks as the deadline approaches for everyone in Melbourne to wear facial protection outside their homes.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews triggered a surge in personal protective equipment sales on Sunday when said face masks would become mandatory for people in metropolitan Melbourne, and in Mitchell Shire to the city’s north, from 11:59pm on Wednesday.

For those who fail to comply, they’ll cop a $200 fine.

Australian Pharmaceutical Industries (API), which operates the Priceline Pharmacy network, said demand had surged not only in Victoria, which reported 374 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, but also NSW.

“As of yesterday, sales had increased 30-fold compared to the previous week with the bulk of this increase being in Melbourne and, to a much lesser extent, NSW,” an API spokesman said on Tuesday.

“API has sufficient masks in stock to meet current demand well into the future.”

The sales rush comes after a shortage of face masks and other personal protective equipment in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, fueling panic buying and long queues at pharmacies.

But Prime Minister Scott Morrison said there was enough wholesale and retail capability to “meet consumer needs”, while Mr Andrews warned retailers against “profiting from the pain of others” and said they would use some of the two million masks available in the state’s stockpile.

The personal protective equipment sales increase contrasts with the earlier months of pandemic when API chief executive Richard Vincent warned of potential closures across its network of 500 Priceline Pharmacies after a fall in foot traffic, particularly in CBD areas.

At the time, Mr Vincent said API was having “balanced” conversations with its commercial landlords about rental relief during the pandemic. While there has been a spike in sales for face masks, the outlook remains uncertain in Victoria, with metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire two weeks into a hard six week lockdown.

NSW is also mulling further restrictions after Premier Gladys Berejiklian reintroduced rules on crowds as the state battles a series of clusters, reporting 13 new COVID-19 cases overnight on Monday.

Mr Morrison said “for some time now we have been aware of what would become a possibility with masks” becoming mandatory. But he said enough were available, despite warning of initial queues.

“I have received assurances for months now that there is a retail and wholesale capability to meet consumer needs,” Mr Morrison said.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews enters a press conference wearing a face mask on July 20, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia. Picture: Getty Images

“It is something we have tracked, but we have also built up mask production capability. The commonwealth has been doing that, the states have been doing that.

“(Obtaining a mask) might require a bit of patience at the outset. A rush hour, no matter how big a bridge you build, it will get a bit congested at the start but my advice is, we will keep doing that through the coordinated mechanism, that will ensure those supplies are there, and for the (Victorian) state government who has decided to make that mandatory, I have no doubt they would have considered the supply issues when they made that decision.”