Fife shop owner hits back at hand sanitiser ‘profiteering’ claims

Shoppers have been buying up bottles of hand sanitiser to help them keep clean during the ongoing crisis.

However, as there has been a sudden increase in demand, the price of the bottles has also shot up, with some retailers being accused of profiteering from the pandemic.

Khalil Aslam, owner of Costcutter@K’s, hit back at the accusations.

“Other retailers have been getting the same backlash,” he told the Mail.

“We’ve got other things to deal with. We’re having to justify ourselves. We didn’t expect massive backlash.

“People think we’re making all the money from it. We’re trying to help people and I’ve sold it below cost.”

Khalil was selling bottles of hand sanitiser at £4.99, which he says was around the cost of purchasing them from the wholesalers, before he started giving them out for free to vulnerable members of the community.

“We probably lost money on it,” he said. “Not everyone is in it to make money. Because of the massive increase in demand the price jumped up overnight. No one can keep up.”

The shop already has some restrictions on place on certain products, such as bread, because of restrictions from the suppliers. It is hoped these will be eased later in the week.

“We will be on top of it once the supply chain is in line,” Khalil said. “We’re almost burned out but we’ve got to keep going.”

However, Khalil said many retailers are also concerned about their own health, and warned that he would be looking at introducing restrictions in his shop.

He accused some people of being ‘blasé’ about coronavirus.

“Restrictions are the next step, for the sake of us,” he said. “If we get infected then the shop closes down. We need to be pushy and ask customers to be respectful of the people around us. There’s a mental issue for all the retailers.”