A north-east community has answered a shop’s plea after it was inundated with calls cancelling Christmas orders due to the new restrictions – almost costing owners thousands.
Greens of Ellon had been inundated with calls from customers who cancelled orders of turkeys and other festive food items after the first minister announced new coronavirus restrictions.
The butcher estimated about 30 orders would have gone, which would have cost them more than £1,000.
Store manager Erin Campbell admitted they were quite “frustrated” with the development, but a social media appeal turned things around in a matter of hours.
She said: “We have been working on just over 500 orders for the festive period, which varies from small orders to custom £14 turkeys that we order in specially for them.
“On Saturday when the new Christmas rules were announced we thought that there might be a few cancellations but not as many as we have received.
“We had been inundated with calls today with people cancelling their orders, which is especially frustrating when it is the big ones that go.
“Our butchers have been working for more than 300 hours preparing these orders for people and then they have just been cancelled.
“We sort of went into panic mode a bit this morning and put a post up on social media asking people to consider businesses when they think about cancelling.”
Greens of Ellon posted a statement on social media informing customers about their situation and asked them to keep their orders if possible.
Since putting up their social media appeal, there has been a hugely positive response from locals who relied on the shop and its delivery service during the first lockdown.
As a result, all orders have been relocated with some offering to sponsor a turkey for those less fortunate than themselves.
Ms Campbell thanked the public for their “quick” and “positive” response.
She said: “We are so relieved. At the start of the day, we were quite frustrated that a lot of the orders would be going to waste.
“But the community came together and we managed to sell all of the turkeys in a matter of hours.
“The positive response has been so great.
We did conclude that a lot of the cancelled orders did not come from our regular customers.
“The amount of support offered to us has been brilliant and made us feel warmer inside.”