Some other anecdotal evidence:
- in late January, most pharmacies in the centre of Frankfurt had signs outside handwritten in English and in Chinese saying 'sorry no masks'. Normally, the Chinese visitors buy toothpaste in bulk in Germany from the drug stores (important to understand that in Germany there are 'drug stores' like Pharmaprix in Canada, or CVS in the US, although only Mueller is as extensive in products as they focus mainly on personal care items and only Mueller is a larger store. You cannot buy prescription drugs here and only limited 'over the counter drugs'. Food items are not a big part of the store, if at all, and may focus on Bio products and some cookies/candy). I was actually able to find my type of toothpaste on the first try at a Rossmann in central Frankfurt, which was unusual. There is suspicion that the CCP was directing Chinese to buy up all the masks in Germany, just as there is suspicion that they sent out the same message to people in Canada. I have the texts from that time with two Chinese colleagues, one younger who was repeating the same set phrase that people were receiving from all over China that all was ok (didn't matter if it was work emails, Etsy sellers, etc but they were all copy/pasting a message) The older colleague didn't do the copy/paste message and was more careful to be vaguely ominous.
- in early/mid February, I was at my pharmacy in Berlin (again, a pharmacy is where to buy over the counter and prescription drugs, and at a larger one perhaps a few specialised beauty items) There was an American family throwing a fit over no hand sanitizer for sale. That just was never a thing in Germany; before this year the only place I would think to see it is Rituals, a beauty product store like Body Shop.
- some of the drugstores in Berlin started to have signs of 'no hand sanitizer' on some shelves or at the entrance in February. Again, didn't seem to be a concern, although I remember a young lady calling her mother in English and having a very upset conversation about how there was no hand sanitizer to be found in Berlin (not sure if that is accurate, it just isn't something that is commonly bought or sold normally)
- I went to a DM in Berlin some time in early March and was surprised to see a special display of disinfecting spray and disposable wipes. Again, just not something commonly used like the Lysol wipes etc you are all looking for.
- mid/late March Rewe had sales on toilet paper, personal wipes, disposable washcloths etc as part of the normal sale time. I remember that specifically because I read here the same night after shopping (with toilet paper stacked outside the shop on sale) that people in the US were panic buying and that there was no toilet paper
- early April one person on Reddit tried to start a rumour?/fear monger? that the shops in Berlin were empty. He was reminded quite firmly that it was the start of a four day holiday in Germany so DUH! That was just perfectly normal German buying behaviour for weekend/holiday
- there was some concern early April that the harvest would not have workers and the government was trying to entice students etc. Eventually the foreign workers were brought in as normal for the harvest
Important to know
- on a normal year, shops are closed on Sunday and holiday, only a few grocery can be open in train stations etc and they are normally packed with queues up to an hour at Friedrichstrasse Bahnhof (one of the main transit stops in the centre) Edeka for instance
- until recently we could not shop on Sundays, Saturday afternoons, or after 1730/1800hrs during the week, so the normal German habit is to buy what you need before shops close. On holidays shops are closed as well. Before the extended hours it was normal on a Saturday morning to find the shelves cleared of product because everyone was buying for Sunday. If like me you had to work on a Saturday morning and your items were gone by the 1300hrs closing, your options were to forage or find a few overpriced junk food items at a gas station shop, or hope that you had a Turkish shop in your neighbourhood. (Initially not even bank machines would dispense cash on a Sunday in some areas, before the shopping laws were extended)
- go to any German grocery store on a Saturday afternoon/early evening and you can queue for 30 minutes or more simply because of buying habits and patterns. This is not COVID related at all.
- go to the bakery or market (like what you call 'farmer's market' 2-3 hours before closing and baked goods, prepared items etc may have run out. Sellers don't mass produce and keep product overnight or over the weekend. They put out enough that they forecast to sell and if it's gone, it's gone
- most Germans don't shop at big stores; the grocery and drug stores are quite small and there are a few mega stores like 'Real' but most people don't go there and load up the car as in North America. Usually it is just buy a few items several times a week
So, no, not really an issue. There was a time when it was more common to find Polish toilet paper in some store chains, but German toilet paper generally sucks and it was really no different.
Summary: a few foreigners who didn't understand German habits, either online, or in shops, made it out to be a bigger deal than it was.
So after saying we don't use Lysol, I learned that it was invented in Germany for use against cholera. We have other 'non-mega' brand products, or use Meister Proper ie Mr Clean.
acks of toilet paper instead of one 30-pack;
