A long-established shop in Bristol has been criticised for hiking prices amid the coronavirus pandemic - prompting an apology by the owner for a 'genuine mistake'.
Malik Supermarket has been a valuable part of the St Jude's community since opening on Stapleton Road in 1980.
But yesterday (March 21) shoppers expressed outrage after the store started selling items at higher prices, including individual toilet rolls out of their packaging for 89p each and 3kg bags of Chef's Larder flour for £6.99.
Shop owner Sajid Malik, who runs it alongside his three brothers, said an error was made when a member of his staff was pricing up the flour, as "the product and size is not a line we have stocked before".
He added the bags were reduced to £3.99 after customers complained about the inflated price.
Mr Malik said the toilet rolls were sold to him loose from a new supplier, as all the cash and carry warehouses from which he usually sources his products were out of stock.
After being made aware of the issue he removed the toilet rolls from the shelves, he said.
An anonymous shopper contacted Bristol Live to share her anger at the inflated prices.
She said: "I think it's all levels of wrong that they would do something like this during a time of crisis.
"There's been so much outrage about it online and I can understand why. Not only is it immoral but it's bad business, as I think it will put a lot of people off going there.
"I don't believe his excuses either; I think he just realised he was in the wrong after people kicked off and tried to blame it on other reasons."
People have left damning 1-star reviews of the shop on its Facebook page, with one person labelling the actions as "disgusting profiteering".
Elsewhere in Bristol customers have complained of newsagent stores charging as much as £9.99 for a 100ml bottle of hand sanitiser, with panic buying leading to shortages of essential items.
"The issues have been rectified now"
Mr Malik told Bristol Live the issue has now been rectified.
He said: "We have been serving the community for 40 years and we try to keep prices as reasonable as possible.
"The issues have been rectified now. I don't want to upset anyone."
In his statement shared on social media, he apologised to customers.
He wrote: "I would like to apologise for what happened in these trying times, we have been in business since 1980s and are a responsible retailer, do understand that we only exist if we have customers and always put customer service and satisfaction at the forefront of our business.
"I am happy to talk to anyone that wishes further clarification, anyone that feels they paid too much for any products is welcome to come and discuss this with me, either I will justify the price or refund the difference."
He admitted "prices have gone up on items" but that "this is not big hikes and will only reflect changes to product costs or additional costs to get these products to our store".
On the initial £6.99 price for flour, he said: "This price was put on the product through a mistake when calculating the price and was a genuine mistake."
