Freezers have been selling out all across the North Shore and Cape Ann in the wake of Gov. Charlie Baker’s announcement of a state of emergency because of spread of the novel coronavirus.
New England Appliance Group of Franklin, an appliance manufacturer that supplies products to nearly 160 stores, has its most popular freezers on back order. A representative in its warehouse said the company expects a new shipment to come in early this week.
“Our 14-cubic-foot is the biggest seller,” said COO Brian Bowen. “That one particular model, we sold 168 in the last 12 months. Now, we’ve sold 48 this month with 32 on back order. Same with the 7-cubic-foot unit — both of those are all on back order. We sold 380 of those in last 12 months, and this month we have 128 sold with 55 on back order.”
While Douglass Appliances in Danvers buys its appliances straight from the supplier, the company is still trying to keep up with customer demands.
“Typically we sell two or three (freezers) a year, and it’s around hunting season,” said Diana Douglass-Young, the store’s office and sales manager. “In the last week, we got two to three dozen calls asking about freezers. Right now we have 12 orders on back order. We asked one of the customers buying it and she said, ‘I want to freeze my food and have it for a long time, depending on what the virus does.’”
Doyon Appliances, which obtains products from New England Appliance Group, typically sells around 15 freezer units a year out of its three locations in Gloucester, Bedford and Reading. Within the past week or so, that number has quadrupled to 60.
The buying spree isn’t limited to just freezers.
“We are almost out of paper towels, water, toilet paper, bleach, household cleaning supplies,” said Lucia Dimeo, a salesperson at the Building Center of Gloucester late Friday afternoon. “We had a new pallet of paper towels come in yesterday and it’s almost already gone today.”
Michael Cronin may be contacted at 978-675-2708, or mcronin@salemnews.com.
