Checks by FMT at the Mydin Hypermarket in Subang Jaya this morning found long lines of shoppers queueing up to pay for their purchases.

Many shopping trolleys were loaded to the brim with basic essentials like rice, chocolate drinks, vegetables, cooking oil, toilet rolls, eggs, bread and biscuits.

Fortunately, there seemed to be no empty shelves as the outlet’s staff were quick to replenish anything that ran out.

A spokesman for the hypermarket said there were definitely more people this morning than the usual Friday crowd and purchases were also in bigger quantities.

While the shelves of eggs seemed to be running low, she said there was ample supply and her staff would replenish them soon.

Checkers Hypermarket in Sri Sentosa along Jalan Klang Lama saw a similar scene, with a long line of shoppers snaking around cars just for people to get in to buy their goods.

Meanwhile, Jaya Grocer at the Perdana Shopping Centre also saw shoppers making extra preparations for the EMCO, with a limit imposed on the number of people who could enter at any given time. This led to a long queue of shoppers waiting to get in.

Gunaseelan Rajoo said he had just done his grocery shopping a few days ago, but found himself back to top up on some goods, just in case people were suddenly not allowed to leave their homes.

“We’re glad that the government is finally taking this step, but this should have happened a few months ago. It would have saved us from all these problems. But, we’re ready (for the EMCO),” he told FMT.

Chua Pei Tee said she was just doing her usual errand run, telling FMT that her trolley was always packed as she had seven people staying at home.

She was ambivalent about the EMCO kicking in tomorrow, saying her entire family had been living under repeated lockdowns since the pandemic began.